DECATUR, Ga. — The household of a Georgia lady who died final yr after she fell from a transferring patrol automotive has filed a civil rights lawsuit, saying sheriff’s deputies improperly arrested her and in the end precipitated her dying, attorneys introduced Wednesday.
The deputies who put Brianna Grier behind a patrol automotive to take her to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office failed to shut the rear passenger-side door earlier than driving away, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation discovered. The 28-year-old lady suffered mind trauma when she hit her head within the July 15 fall and was in a coma till she died July 21 at an Atlanta hospital, her household mentioned.
The federal wrongful dying lawsuit filed Tuesday accuses Hancock County Sheriff Tomlyn Primus, his brother Lt. Marlin Primus and Deputy Timothy Legette of gross negligence resulting in Grier’s dying. A message in search of remark was left with an individual who answered the cellphone within the sheriff’s workplace Wednesday.
Grier was arrested after sheriff’s deputies had been known as to her mother and father’ dwelling in Sparta. Her household known as 911 for assist as a result of Grier was experiencing a psychological well being disaster, mentioned distinguished civil rights legal professional Ben Crump, who’s representing Grier‘s household.
“There is no excuse, no justification why Brianna Grier is dead and why she died in such a horrific manner, falling out the back of an unsecured police vehicle traveling on the highway, her head colliding with the concrete on the street,” Crump mentioned throughout a information convention asserting the lawsuit Wednesday.
The deputies put Grier behind a patrol automotive, however she was not carrying a seatbelt, her arms had been cuffed in entrance of her and the rear passenger-side door was by no means closed, in keeping with GBI investigators.
The GBI introduced in November that its investigation was full and that the Ocmulgee Circuit district legal professional had determined to not deliver the case earlier than a grand jury for attainable prices.
“My baby, Brianna Grier, she wasn’t an animal. She wasn’t a bad person,” Grier’s mom, Mary Grier, advised reporters. “She just had some problems she couldn’t control.”
Grier’s household had beforehand known as legislation enforcement for assist along with her episodes and the responding deputies had been conscious of her historical past as a recognized schizophrenic and knew she was having “an acute mental health episode,” the lawsuit says.
Lawyer Eric Hertz, one other lawyer for the household, mentioned there’s a giant drawback in Georgia with the best way people who find themselves experiencing psychological well being issues are handled by police.
“This is not the first incident, but we hope it will be the last,” he mentioned. “It is our goal in this case to get the highest verdict there’s ever been in Georgia for a case of this type to send a message all the way up to the top that this should not happen.”
Attorney Gerald Griggs, who’s president of the Georgia NAACP, mentioned Georgia’s psychological well being companies should be totally funded and there must be a mandate that each police division ship disaster interveners for psychological well being calls.
“Brianna Grier should be here raising her two beautiful daughters instead of us standing outside of a courthouse demanding justice for her,” Griggs mentioned.
Mary Grier mentioned her 5-year-old twin granddaughters, Maria and Mariah, consistently ask for his or her mom. Mary Grier’s husband – Brianna‘s father – died a few months after Brianna did, and he or she mentioned she feels “broken, truly broken.”
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com