A Black mother of 3-year-old twin girls died six days after falling out of the back of a moving patrol car that an investigating state agency said had a rear door that deputies left open. Brianna Grier, 28, 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 Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI). The GBI released heartbreaking body camera footage on Friday of Grier’s encounter with deputies.
“The early investigation indicates Hancock County Sheriff’s Office deputies were called to a home on Hickory Grove Church Road in Sparta. Grier was arrested at the home,” the GBI wrote in an initial news release. “While deputies were taking Grier to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, Grier fell out of a patrol car and sustained significant injuries. She later died because of those injuries.”
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Warning: Videos in this story contain violent body camera footage that may be triggering for viewers.
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GBI agents conducted interviews, reviewed body camera footage, and did mechanical testing on the patrol car to determine if there were possible "mechanical malfunctions" to the patrol car.
"In conjunction with these investigative acts, GBI agents concluded that Grier was placed in the backseat of the patrol car, handcuffed in the front of her body with no seatbelt," the agency reported.
Body camera video shows one deputy telling Brianna she would be charged with public drunkenness. “I can smell it on you,” he said.
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.”
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.”
Brianna Grier’s family had called authorities several times seeking mental health services for their daughter.
"When they used to come out to the house they'd call an ambulance service," said Brianna Grier's father, Marvin Grier. "The ambulance service would come out and they would take her to the hospital to get some help."
Ben Crump, a noted civil rights attorney who’s on the legal team of Grier’s family, said during a news conference on Friday that deputies with the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office came to the Grier home and handcuffed Brianna allegedly for resisting arrest. They didn’t bring an ambulance with them even though Brianna’s mother had told authorities she was “having an episode,” Crump said.
The attorney also alleged that the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office gave a conflicting report of what happened. “We demand full transparency and answers from the police,” he said in one tweet.
The GBI provided an update on Friday to clarify what it described as “inaccurate reports” about the investigation of Brianna’s death.
“As a point of clarification to inaccurate reports, GBI agents have met with the Grier family in-person on multiple occasions since July 15,” the agency said.
Agents have also had several conversations with the family, providing them with investigative updates. It has also been reported that the GBI released a 90-page report of prior incidents involving Brianna Grier. The GBI has not released any reports of prior contact with law enforcement. We have only provided investigative updates on this case as we’re working to learn what happened in Hancock County in the early morning hours of July 15, 2022.
Gerald Griggs, Georgia's NAACP president, referenced the death of Ahmaud Arbery at a news conference about Brianna.
Arbery, 25, was killed running through the Satilla Shores neighborhood in South Georgia. It took 74 days for authorities to arrest Gregory McMichael, who formerly worked as an investigator for the prosecutor’s office initially tasked with investigating Arbery’s death. Gregory’s son Travis, who shot Arbery, was also arrested in the incident. It was revealed through Arbery’s mother’s tireless efforts and calls for accountability that the McMichaels armed themselves with guns, got into a truck, and chased Arbery on Feb. 23, 2020 after accusing Arbery of breaking into a home under construction in the community, all of which was later included in a
federal indictment.
William “Roddie” Bryan, an area resident who recorded the shooting and at points used his truck to block Arbery’s route, was also arrested in the incident that led to murder convictions for all three men involved.
Griggs used Arbery’s death as evidence of what he called a “police accountability and a police brutality problem” in Georgia.
“So to the Hancock County sheriff, it’s time to be transparent. It’s time to be accountable,” the local leader said.
The Hancock County Sheriff's Office has not returned the Daily Kos’ request for comment.