Brianna Grier's family demands answers as new video raises questions in death of Georgia mother who fell out of patrol car
Newly released police bodycam footage is raising questions in the death of a mother of two who fell out of a moving patrol car in Georgia.
Brianna Grier's family says they've received conflicting explanations about the July 15 incident, and they're now demanding answers. The 28-year-old woman died six days after the encounter with Hancock County deputies in the city of Sparta.
Her parents said they called 911 because their daughter, a diagnosed schizophrenic, had threatened to hurt herself and her twin girls.
"I hate that I called," her mother, Mary Grier, told CBS News senior national correspondent Mark Strassmann.
"I feel like it's my fault… I trusted them to take care of her, not to harm her," she said.
Two responding deputies struggled to push Brianna Grier into the back of a patrol car that night, authorities said. Less than a minute into the drive, she fell out of the vehicle.
The new footage released by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation shows the moments after the fall.
"We're going to need an ambulance... Brianna!" one of the officers said as Grier lay on the ground, the footage shows.
Grier somehow fell out the rear passenger door of the police car, and landed face-down by the side of the road, breathing but unconscious. Grier's family says the Hancock County sheriff later told them she fell out after kicking open the door.
But a review by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation concluded that "Grier was placed in the backseat… with no seatbelt" and "the rear passenger side door of the patrol car… was never closed." The new video does not show the fall.
The Hancock County Sheriff's Office had no comment for this story — unlike the Grier family's lawyer, Ben Crump.
"Just reckless conduct on behalf of these officers. Deliberate indifference at the hands of somebody who was having a mental health crisis," Crump said.
Her family is now dealing with a new crisis: their grief.
"We need answers. We need closure. We need to know the truth," said her father, Marvin Grier.
As part of their look into how Brianna Grier died, state investigators say they reviewed multiple videos. Her parents want to see all of them.
