Reckless Indifference to Life by Govt: Video Shows the Moments After Brianna Grier Fell Out of Moving Cop Car. GA Cops Push and Pull On Black Womans Lifeless, Handcuffed Body. Reason for Arrest Secret

From [HERE] Newly released police body camera footage raised questions about the death of a young Georgia mother who fell out of a moving police car after a back door wasn't closed, and her family demanded answers.

Brianna Grier, 28, fell out of the patrol car July 15. She was pronounced dead about a week later at an Atlanta hospital, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation. 

Grier, a Black woman, was arrested after the Hancock County Sheriff’s Office responded to a home in Sparta, Georgia, a city about 70 miles east of Atlanta. The GBI did not say why deputies were called to the home or why Grier was arrested.

Grier was in a coma for six days before she died, civil rights attorney Ben Crump said Friday at a news conference. 

Crump, who represents her family, questioned why Grier was arrested, saying the incident was "not a criminal matter but a mental health issue." He said Grier had a history of mental health crises and her family had called police several times regarding mental health concerns. Grier's mother said her daughter was having a crisis before the incident last month, Crump said.

"Just because you're Black and having a mental health crisis does not mean that should equate to a death sentence," Crump said.

Grier's father, Marvin, demanded justice for his daughter alongside other family members Friday.

"We ain't here trying to start no problem," he said with tears in his eyes, "but we're going to start a problem because we want to know what happened. ... That was my child."

Investigators conclude patrol car door wasn't closed

After reviewing body camera footage and conducting interviews, GBI investigators concluded that the patrol car's rear passenger-side door, where Grier was sitting, wasn't closed, according to a statement released Saturday. Agents found that Grier was handcuffed and placed in the car with no seatbelt.

Automotive experts helped determine whether there were mechanical malfunctions with the door, the GBI said.

Authorities release body camera footage

Body camera footage shows Grier repeatedly telling police officers that she was not drunk and asking deputies to give her a breathalyzer test.

Officers placed Grier in handcuffs and attempted to put her in a squad car. The video shows Grier crying on the ground, asking officers to "get off me."

The GBI said Grier refused to get in the patrol car. According to the agency, she said she was going to harm herself.

The footage shows a deputy taking out his taser as Grier yelled, "You can tase me. I don't care." The deputy told Grier he was not going to tase her before he put it away and walked out of view.

Another deputy lifted Grier off the ground and put her in the back seat of the patrol car.

The body camera footage does not show officers opening or closing the rear passenger-side door. The GBI said the deputy thought he had closed the door.

Grier's family demands justice

Grier's family chanted, "Justice for Brianna Grier" Friday at the news conference. They remembered the mother of 3-year-old twin daughters as a loving, caring person.

"We loved her regardless, unconditionally," Marvin Grier said. "Now we (have) to raise these kids and tell them a story, and I'm not planning on telling no lie(s). I want to tell them the truth."

Crump said Grier's daughters have asked every day where their mother is.

"Shame on us if we don't get answers for those babies," Crump said.

"Yet again we have another African American citizen killed in just an unbelievable way while in the custody of the police," he said.

Gerald Griggs, president of the Georgia State Conference of the NAACP, called on local and state authorities to address Georgia's "police accountability and police brutality problem."

"To the Hancock County sheriff, it’s time to be transparent," he said. "It’s time to be accountable. To the GBI, it’s time for y’all to meet with this family. To the governor, it’s time for you to recognize, again, that Georgia has a police accountability problem."