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WATCH | Civil Rights attorney Ben Crump demands justice in Brianna Grier case

Attorney Ben Crump held a press conference in Decatur Friday on the central Georgia death of a mother of twins while in custody of sheriff's deputies.

DECATUR, Ga. — UPDATE: You can watch the full press conference in the video player above this story.

Original story below

Ben Crump, the famed Civil Rights attorney who has worked on cases including those for George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery, will today be highlighting the case of a Georgia mother of two who died while in the custody of sheriff's deputies in central Georgia earlier this month.

Crump will be conducting a press conference at 11:15 a.m. in Decatur, alongside Georgia NAACP President Gerald Griggs and the family of Brianna Grier.

A release by Crump's office said the press conference will "demand justice" for Grier and "announce plans to perform an independent autopsy once her body is released from GBI."

Grier, 28, was experiencing a mental health crisis when she was detained by Hancock County sheriff's deputies - cuffed and then placed into a sheriff's transport vehicle without a seatbelt.

RELATED: 'I just want justice for my sister': Protesters demand answers from sheriff in death of Brianna Grier

According to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Grier fell out of the car during transport as a door was never fully closed by the deputies. She suffered two fractures in her skull, went into a coma and died after six days in the hospital.

Her mother, Mary Grier, told 11Alive's Macon sister station WMAZ that she couldn't believe the condition she was in when she saw Brianna in the hospital bed.

"I just broke down and cried because it's just ridiculous how she laying up there with tubes and pipes everywhere on her for no reason because it didn't have to be that. It didn't have to be that," Mary Grier said.

The GBI said that an investigation revealed that after Grier was arrested, deputies tried to put her inside the back seat of the car on the driver's side.

One of the deputies walked around and opened the rear passenger side door. The deputy went back around to the driver's side. Both deputies put Grier in the back seat and closed the rear driver's side door. 

The deputy thought he closed the rear passenger side door, and the deputies left the scene. They drove a short distance before Grier fell out of the moving car. Body camera footage reveals the deputies had no contact with Grier from the time she was placed in the car until she fell out of the car. 

Hancock County Sheriff Tomlyn Primus tried to address protesters this week, offering "my condolences to the family for them losing a loved one" and saying they were still "trying to get a clear understanding" of what happened before the GBI released the additional details about the car door never being fully closed.

   

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