No charges in death of handcuffed woman who fell from police car, GA officials say
A district attorney won’t seek charges against deputies accused in the death of a Georgia woman who fell from the back of a moving patrol car, state investigators said.
The Georgia Bureau of Investigation closed its case in the death of Brianna Grier after a months-long investigation, the agency announced Monday, Nov. 7.
Investigators sent their findings to the Ocmulgee Circuit district attorney, which declined to bring the case to “a civil or criminal grand jury.”
Authorities said they met with Grier’s family, who is being represented civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump, WXIA reported.
McClatchy News reached out to Crump’s office for comment on Tuesday, Nov. 8, and was awaiting a response.
Grier, 28, died at a hospital nearly a week after authorities said she fell from the back seat of a patrol car during her arrest in Hancock County on July 15. An investigation into the incident found that sheriff’s deputies drove away without closing the back door, causing a handcuffed Grier to fall out.
She suffered significant injuries after authorities initially said she jumped from the moving car.
Grier’s parents had called 911 early that morning and said their daughter was experiencing a mental health crisis, according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Rather than sending EMS, deputies showed up and arrested her, relatives said.
“To put Grier in the patrol car, one of the deputies walked around and opened the rear passenger side door,” state investigators said. “The deputy quickly returned to the rear driver’s side door. Both deputies put Grier in the backseat of the patrol car. The deputies closed the rear driver’s side door” but didn’t close the rear passenger-side door.
Earlier this year, investigators released a 10-minute body camera video of Grier’s arrest. (Warning: The video may be disturbing to some viewers.)
Hancock County is about 100 miles southeast of Atlanta.
This story was originally published November 8, 2022 at 11:12 AM with the headline "No charges in death of handcuffed woman who fell from police car, GA officials say."