Woman Dies After Being Tossed From Moving Police Car

Georgia’s Bureau of Investigation (GBI) says deputies pulled away without closing the back door of their patrol car, leading to a woman’s fatal fall.

Brianna Marie Grier, 28, died a week after she fell from a moving police car during her arrest in Sparta earlier this month.

A GBI investigation into the death found that the back side door where Grier was seated was never closed properly. Hancock County deputies arrested Grier after she “allegedly kicked deputies, dared them to tase her, and said she wouldn’t go to jail before threatening to kill herself.”

Police body camera video shows that deputies forgot to shut the door after placing her in the back seat, “handcuffed in the front of her body with no seatbelt,” investigators said.

Records also indicate Grier had a history of mental illness and may have been going through an episode at the time of her arrest. At one point, Grier refused to get in the car and threatened to harm herself, according to an investigator. She was seated on the ground at the rear driver’s side of the patrol car.

“To put Grier in the patrol car, one of the deputies walked around and opened the rear passenger side door,” according to the GBI. “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.

“The deputies left the scene and drove a short distance,” the release states. “Body camera footage reveals the deputies had no other contact with Grier after she was placed in the car until she fell out of the moving car.”

The 28-year-old suffered severe injuries in the incident and died six days later.