From [HERE] The family of a Georgia man who died five months after he was slammed to the ground during a scuffle with a Birmingham police officer in 2020 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Alabama.

Carl Grant, a 69-year-old Vietnam veteran, died in Muscogee County, Ga. on July 24, 2020.

His death came after he suffered a spinal cord injury on February 3 while in the custody of Birmingham police.

The lawsuit was filed in Jefferson County this week by Birmingham attorneys Richard Rice, Johnathan Austin and Derrell Dowdell on behalf of William Jenkins, Grant’s brother, alleging excessive force.

The lawsuit states police failed to recognize, and respond accordingly, to the fact that Grant was in a mental health crisis, and cites what they say are systemic deficiencies in the police department’s use of force policy.

The defendants are Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin, city council members, Police Chief Scott Thurmond and Officer Vincent Larry. Police and city officials do not comment on pending litigation.

Grant lived in Conyers, Ga., and suffered from a wide range of health issues including dementia, high blood pressure, diabetes, PTSD and conditions brought on by exposure to Agent Orange.

He served nine years as a U.S. Marine which included service in Vietnam.

He was honorably discharged as a staff sergeant in 1979 and had received numerous service awards.

According to the lawsuit, Grant left his Georgia home to go to the grocery store. His attorneys said he was watching the Super Bowl with friends and family, and left at halftime to make the store run.

Instead, he somehow ended up in Birmingham where he was found by Officer Larry wandering, confused and disoriented.

Attorneys say police should have known Grant was in distress and in need of medical or mental health.

The attorneys claim Grant was “falsely imprisoned” on a misdemeanor charge and received an abrasion to his forehead and other injuries during the arrest.

He was taken by police to UAB Hospital’s emergency room, where he was treated for his injuries.

“His mental health disability was apparent to a lay person,’’ the lawsuit states.

Grant, attorneys said, was confused as to why he was at the hospital.

In the process of being discharged from the hospital, Grant asked to use the restroom. “For unknown reasons, he was physically accosted and manhandled by Larry,’’ the suit states.

At that point, the suit states, Grant was picked up by police and slammed to the floor. “Upon impact with the floor, Grant’s body immediately went limp.”

Grant was then rolled over onto his stomach and handcuffed. The encounter was captured on surveillance video.

“Physicians began to triage Grant and concluded that Grant was unable to move any of his limbs, did not respond to pain sensations in his extremities, and had suffered a broken neck,’’ the suit states.

Grant underwent surgery for spinal cord injuries during which several vertebrae were repaired, removed or fused together.

Grant spent several months at UAB and VA hospitals before eventually returning home to Georgia, where he ultimately died under hospice care.

Efforts to obtain the official cause and manner of death were unsuccessful.

“Grant was never physically, emotionally or mentally the same man as he was who walked into the UAB ER,’’ the lawsuit states. “He walked into the hospital and was beaten, paralyzed and left dead.”

According to the lawsuit, a Birmingham Police Department internal review determined the officer’s use of force was proper and acceptable, “even when the officer violated policy and/or used excessive, unconstitutional and/or unskillful force.”

“The city failed to provide any meaningful oversight to policing, police officers or law enforcement while simultaneously allocating millions of dollars to fund policing in 2020,’’ the suit states.

“Currently (the city) provides no significant institutional assistance for those who may be experiencing a mental health emergency other than dispatching police officers,’’ according to the suit. “Community Service Officers advertised as social works that can respond to mental health emergencies constitute less than 1 percent of police employed by the city.”