Georgia deputies failed to close the door of a moving police car that held a handcuffed Black woman, which resulted in her falling out and ultimately dying, state officials said on Wednesday (July 27).
Brianna Marie Grier, 28, sustained severe injuries when she fell from a patrol car as police were taking her into custody earlier this month, per NBC News.
Grier was pronounced dead days after the incident.
A Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) probe found that Hancock County deputies failed to close the passenger’s rear door where she was sitting.
Grier was handcuffed in front of her body and wasn’t wearing a seatbelt at the time of the fatal incident, GBI found after numerous interviews, several body camera videos, and mechanical tests on the patrol car.
“Automotive experts and the Georgia State Patrol also assisted with tests to determine if there were possible mechanical malfunctions. 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,” a GBI statement reads.
According to the family, Grier’s mother called authorities as her daughter was experiencing a mental health crisis.
During previous incidents, Grier was taken to the hospital by ambulance, the family said.
However, on the night of July 14, a police car arrived instead.
Deputies eventually placed Grier inside the vehicle after she refused to get in.
The GPI report noted that “deputies closed the rear driver’s side door … [and] that the deputy thought he closed the rear passenger side door.”
Marvin and Mary Grier have hired civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump to seek justice for the “unnecessary” death of their daughter.
“Brianna Grier was a beautiful young mother who should still be alive,” Crump said in a statement on Thursday (July 28). “It is the responsibility of law enforcement to keep everyone in their custody safe and alive, including when there is a mental health crisis.”
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