SPARTA, Ga. — The Grier family told 13WMAZ Brianna Grier passed away Wednesday afternoon, and they still can't believe their daughter is gone.
Earlier this week, 13WMAZ reported Grier apparently fell out of a deputy's cruiser. Grier was having a schizophrenic episode and the family called the Hancock County Sheriff's Office for help. When two deputies arrived, they arrested her. Her whole family misses her.
"That's my baby," Mary Grier said.
Brianna leaves behind two babies of her own, Maria and Mariah. Her parents, Marvin and Mary Grier, say they want answers and closure.
"We need closure. The children need closure. The world needs closure because this can happen to someone else's child as well as ours," Marvin Grier said.
13WMAZ requested the incident report along with dash and body cam footage from the night Brianna was taken by two Hancock County deputies. We asked to speak with Sheriff Terrell Primus, but was told he was not in the office this week and GBI had taken over the investigation. The Grier family requested a full autopsy from the GBI and the county coroner.
Almost six years ago, the family lost their other daughter, Zelda Grier, to cancer. Now, they've lost Brianna and don't know what to do next.
"Now we're trying to see if we can get a GoFundMe page just we can get some fund, some assistance, some help in burying our daughter," Marvin Grier said.
The family wants solutions so others in a mental health crisis don't go through the same situation. The Grier family says usually EMS would take her to the Atrium Health Navicent Baldwin psych unit and then bring her back, but this time was different. Marvin Grier says living in a rural county like Hancock, mental health units are not accessible.
"It's 100-something miles to Atlanta, we're 70-something miles from Macon. That's just too far for us to not have a hospital in Hancock County," Grier said.
Grier says the state needs to do something about this because of his age and people with mental health issues.
You can donate to the Grier family's GoFundMe page here.
If you or someone you know is having a mental health crisis you can call the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline or go to mentalhealth.gov for more information.