The family of Brianna Grier has filed a $100 million wrongful death lawsuit against members of the Hancock County (Georgia) Sheriff’s Office.
Last summer Grier’s mother called the police for help with her daughter who was in the midst of a schizophrenic-induced mental health crisis. When officers arrived on the scene, they reportedly found Grier heavily intoxicated and causing a disturbance in front of her parents’ home, according to Atlanta Black Star
.The officers apprehended her and placed her in the back of a police cruiser that was not properly secured. Grier was flung from the vehicle in handcuffs and sustained fatal injuries after hitting her head on the road, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
She was admitted to the hospital with brain trauma and died six days later. Grier was a mother to twin 3-year-old girls at the time. They have since been placed in the care of family.
The family’s attorney, Benjamin Crump, announced lawsuit during a press conference earlier this week.
“There is no excuse, no justification, for why Brianna Grier is dead and why she died in such a horrific manner,” Crump said, alongside members of Grier’s family. “Her daughters continue to ask questions all the time about their mother.”
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation closed its
investigation into the incident last November. The Ocmulgee Circuit District Attorney decided against bringing the case to a civil or criminal grand jury, according to USA Today.However, Crump and Grier’s family are demanding that action be taken against the officers who, with knowledge of Grier’s mental state, simply charged her with public drunkenness and handcuffed her.Later tests found no alcohol in her system, according to the lawsuit. Body-am video seemed to corroborate the details of the lawsuit as Grier can be heard repeatedly telling officers that she was not drunk and that she was willing to take a breathalyzer in order to prove it.
“This young, beautiful Black woman needed help. The police came and put her in handcuffs,” Crump said.
Officers originally told the sheriff’s department that Grier jumped from the vehicle. However, videos of the incident proved to be falsified.