Updated as of 8/9/2022 at 3:15 p.m.
The preliminary findings of an independent autopsy ordered by Brianna Grier’s family reveals that she died from a severe blunt force injury to the head. During a press conference Monday, pathologist and the director of autopsy and forensic services at the University of Michigan Dr. Allecia Wilson shared: “In this case, the cause of death is consistent with the severe blunt force injury that occurred inside of the head.”
The findings of an official autopsy being done as part of the Georgia Bureau of Investigation’s review of Grier’s death are ongoing. Grier’s funeral is scheduled for Thursday at West Hunter Baptist Church in Atlanta.
Updated as of 7/28/2022 at 2:50 p.m.
On Thursday, state officials released a report that stated Georgia deputies did not shut the door of a patrol car while taking Grier into custody earlier this month. Georgia Bureau of Investigations found that an officer failed to close the rear passenger door before leaving the scene. Agents conducted interviews and reviewed body camera footage as well as an inspection of the car during their investigation. This negligence resulted to her falling out of the moving vehicle, which ultimately led to her death.
It was announced on Thursday by the Georgia Bureau of Investigations that it is investigating the death of 28-year-old Brianna Marie Grier, who died on July 21 after an “in-custody incident with Hancock County Sheriff’s Office deputies” that happened just six days earlier.
As explained by the GBI in a statement, deputies were called to a house in Sparta on on July 15 and Grier was soon detained. The statement read:
“While deputies were taking Grier to the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office, Grier fell out of a patrol car and sustained significant injuries. She later died because of those injuries.”
Grier’s parents called police, saying that their daughter was having a schizophrenic crisis. They wanted paramedics to come assist her, as they had done previously. However, when sheriff’s deputies went to their home they claimed Grier had alcohol on her breath.
She said that she had been drinking and was put in handcuffs, escorted into a patrol car and detained for intoxication, her father Marvin Grier said. Grier soon died in police custody. She leaves behind a set of 3-year-old twin girls.
Her father wants answers. “We need to know what happened to our daughter,” he told The Washington Post Friday. “If we had known it was going to end up this way, we would have let her stay here.”
On the morning of July 15, police told Grier’s mother that her daughter had allegedly “kicked the back door in and jumped out” of the patrol car. Grier’s father said police told them she had suffered a head injury and had been taken to the hospital. However, this just doesn’t add up.
“Everybody knows that no one can just kick a door open on a police cruiser. I never heard nobody else say it had happened,” Grier’s father said to The Washington Post. “And with her hands behind her back? Something’s not right here.”
GBI said Grier’s body will be taken to their crime lab for an autopsy, though there is no timeline for the release date for their findings. Grier’s family deserve justice for what happened to their daughter although sadly nothing will bring her back to them.