Months after Georgia deputies allowed a Black mother seated in the backseat of a Georgia patrol car to fall out of the moving vehicle, killing her, a Georgia prosecutor has decided against bringing the case before a grand jury. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) has released its findings to the Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney and concluded its investigation into the death of 28-year-old Brianna Grier, the agency said in a news release on Monday.
“We met with the family to inform them that the GBI case was completed and given to the Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney who decided against bringing the case to a civil or criminal grand jury,” the GBI said in the statement
RELATED STORY: Pathologist: Brianna Grier sustained 'severe' head, brain trauma after handcuffed fall from cop car
When Daily Kos asked for a copy of those findings, the GBI responded with an automated message:
“Please be advised that our current processing time is nineteen (19) business days and are working diligently to fulfill your request.”
Grier was handcuffed but not placed in a seatbelt when Georgia deputies from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office detained her on July 15, according to the GBI.
Brianna Grier's mother, Mary, told reporters she feels awful because she is the one who called police looking for help. Brianna, who was diagnosed with schizophrenia, was having a mental health episode and threatening to harm her daughters, CBS reported. “I hate that I called,” Mary Grier told the news station. “I feel like it’s my fault because I called them and I’m trusting in them to take care of her, not to harm her.”
Warning: This video contains violent body camera footage that may be triggering for viewers.
Body camera video shows one deputy who arrived in response to Mary Grier’s call telling Brianna she would be charged with public drunkenness, claiming he could ”smell it on” her.
She had told deputies: "I'm not drunk. I haven't had anything to drink.”
She screamed, begging for them to bring out a breathalyzer as she was handcuffed. She flailed her legs and yelled: “Get off of me,” to which a deputy replied: “Now, you finna get charged.”
Body camera footage shows Brianna screaming, crying, and begging deputies to get off of her. “I ain’t broke no law,” she said.
Deputies alleged Grier had refused to get into the patrol car and "made a statement that she was going to harm herself" when one of two deputies on the scene opened the rear passenger door and helped the other deputy get Grier into the backseat via the rear driver's side, the GBI reported. "The deputies closed the rear driver’s side door," the agency said in its news release. "The investigation shows that the deputy thought he closed the rear passenger side door.
“The deputies left the scene and drove a short distance. Body camera footage reveals the deputies had no other contact with Grier from the time she was placed in the car until she fell out of the moving car.”
Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC) there is no evidence that the deputies involved, Timothy Legette and Marlin Primus, committed a crime.
“Based on a review of the entire case file and looking at Georgia law, we came to the same conclusion as the GBI, which was there were no criminal acts that occurred that night, however tragic they certainly were,” he told the newspaper. “There’s a difference between negligence and a criminal act.”
Barksdale said his decision was not an easy one to make.
“We understand how tragic this is. We understand that someone lost their life,” he told the AJC. “But even if it’s a tough decision, we’re going to make sure we look at all the evidence and apply the law ... That’s exactly what we did here.”
Barksdale also advocated for more resources to help those suffering from mental health crises. “There is not enough funding for people who are suffering from mental illness,” he told the AJC. “They don’t need to be in jail. They need to be in a mental health facility being treated by doctors.”
It's an interesting point to make considering deputies appeared to be taking Brianna Grier to jail, something they hadn't done in the past, according to her father, Marvin Grier.
"When they used to come out to the house they'd call an ambulance service," he told CBS. "The ambulance service would come out and they would take her to the hospital to get some help."
Civil rights attorney Ben Crump, who represents Grier’s family, told the AJC he is planning a lawsuit.
“Instead of helping Brianna Grier with her mental health crisis, Hancock County Sheriff’s (GA) deputies took her into custody, let her fall out of a moving patrol vehicle, and caused her death,” Crump tweeted on Monday. “The family of Brianna’s orphaned twin girls deserve ANSWERS!”
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