Family Sues Georgia Cops After Woman Died Falling From Moving Patrol Car

Brianna Grier was arrested final July in Hancock County, Georgia, after affected by a psychological well being episode. Nonetheless, police forgot to shut the again door of their patrol automobile, and Grier fell out, sustaining accidents that ultimately led to her loss of life six days later.

This week, Grier’s household has filed a $100 million lawsuit towards the officers who arrested Grier, claiming that their actions constituted extreme power that violated her constitutional rights.

In response to the lawsuit, Grier, who had been recognized with schizophrenia, had been visiting her mother and father and her twin 3-year-old daughters when she known as 911, saying that she was having an anxiousness assault and wanted to take her medicines. Two officers, Lieutenant Marlin Primus and Deputy Timothy Legette, arrived shortly and arrested Grier. In response to the criticism, Primus “claimed he may scent alcohol on Brianna Grier, stating he was charging Grier with ‘public drunk,'” although Legette “later admitted to Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) officers that he didn’t scent alcohol”on her. 

In response to the criticism, Grier herself insisted that she wasn’t drunk, and when Grier’s physique fluids have been later examined, no alcohol was present in her system.

The criticism states that Primus and Legette handcuffed Grier—who, in physique digicam footage of the incident, might be heard threatening to hurt herself if arrested. The pair then pressured Grier into the again of Legette’s patrol automobile, the place she could have hit her head. In response to the criticism, Primus did “not shield Grier’s head whereas hoisting and heaving Grier into the automobile” and “Grier might be heard audibly exclaiming till her head has crossed the brink of Deputy Legettes’s patrol automobile driver’s facet again doorframe. As soon as Grier’s head crosses the automobile doorframe ceiling, Grier is all of the sudden silent.”

A couple of minutes later, the 2 officers drove off, leaving the again passenger-side door to the patrol automobile open. A couple of minutes later, Grier, who had not been buckled into the automobile, fell out of the patrol automobile.

In physique digicam footage of the incident, the 2 officers can been seen approaching an unconscious Grier, laying facedown on the facet of the highway. “Sit up, sit up, sit up,” says Primus, transferring Grier right into a sitting place, including “she jumped to the automobile.” Whereas the pair’s statements are generally tough to listen to in launched physique digicam footage, the criticism states that Legette added, “We’re gonna want an ambulance.”

Nonetheless, neither officer tried to manage first assist. Because the pair waited for an ambulance, Primus said that Grier “simply bailed out. I won’t have had that door shut. That I do not know. That I do not know,” after which he motioned for Legette to show off his physique digicam.

Grier was ultimately airlifted to an Atlanta hospital. The criticism states that Grier had “a number of cranium fractures upon arrival to the hospital” and was “declared mind useless,” succumbing to her accidents six days later. Final November, the Hancock County District Lawyer introduced that he wouldn’t be searching for felony fees towards the officers.

“A State Actor can not arrest and handcuff a person, place them in a harmful circumstance, after which declare no fault if the particular person is harmed by exactly the hazard created by the State Actors,” the criticism states. “As a proximate results of the callous and or reckless actions and omissions described above, Grier was injured, endured bodily ache and psychological struggling, and was killed.”

Grier’s case reveals simply how simply 911 calls searching for medical well being for a mentally sick particular person can finish in tragedy. Grier’s aggressive arrest by police and their negligence in failing to buckle her into the automobile and insure the patrol automobile door, in response to the criticism, immediately triggered her pointless loss of life.

However Brianna Grier did not should be arrested, she wanted an ambulance—one thing her mother and father say had been summoned throughout their daughter’s earlier psychological well being episode—however as an alternative, she bought two cops.