The family of Brianna Grier has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against several members of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office.
Grier died six days after being dragged from her parents’ Sparta home by a Hancock County Sheriff’s Office deputy. The lawsuit was announced at a news conference in front of the Old Decatur Courthouse on May 24 in the Atlanta suburb of Decatur, Georgia.
After her mother called 911 for help on July 15 for Grier’s schizophrenic episode, the deputies arrived on the scene between midnight and 1 a.m. Deputies reported they found Grier agitated, possibly intoxicated, and banging on her parents’ door demanding to be let in.
They handcuffed Grier before dragging her to a patrol vehicle. The deputies failed to shut the door of the patrol car all the way and secure Grier’s seatbelt, and the 28-year-old fell out of the moving vehicle about 30 seconds after the car began moving while handcuffed.
Related: ‘Unbelievable’: GBI Releases Footage of Hancock County Sheriff Deputies Forgetting to Close the Patrol Car Door, Shows How the Mistake Cost Brianna Grier Her Life
The mother of twin girls suffered from two skull fractures and was airlifted about 90 miles north to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where she went into a coma. According to an independent pathology conducted by Dr. Allecia Wilson, Grier died from blunt force trauma to the head and swelling in the brain. She died on July 21.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation finished its investigation last November. Ocmulgee Judicial Circuit District Attorney T. Wright Barksdale III declined to prosecute the deputies.
At the time, Brianna’s adoptive father Marvin Grier told WGXA News that they called the police for help, not death.
“The night that this happened, we called the police for help,” said Mr. Grier. “I mean for help. Not for death.” Mr. Grier died a few months after…
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