The Sad Fate of The Black Vietnam Vet With Dementia
Years after the tragic death of 68-year-old Vietnam veteran Carl Grant — a family is still waiting for justice. The U.S. Marine Corps veteran, who had dementia, was paralyzed and eventually died in the months after a Birmingham police officer body slammed him to the ground.
Grant, who is Black, reportedly went out to shop for groceries near his home in an Atlanta suburb in February of 2020 when he became disoriented and ended up accidentally driving two hours away to Birmingham, AL. Confused and disoriented, Grant attempted to use his keys to unlock what he thought was his home — but actually was a similar-looking home roughly two hours away.
According to the Associated Press, which was revealed as a part of their recent police brutality investigation, the homeowner called 911, at which point police responded, handcuffing Grant. Once they realized he was genuinely confused, they released him. However, a supervisor told them that they should have called for medical attention.
Roughly half an hour later, police were called again to a separate location, where they found the veteran sitting on another stranger’s porch. According to the AP, Grant was adamant that he lived at this other property and that he had documentation to prove it. Body camera footage obtained by the AP reportedly showed one officer tell Grant that he couldn’t enter the house and shoving him down the stairs. Grant, clearly confused, shouted for someone to “Call the police!” as they handcuffed him.
According to the AP, police began to realize that Grant was confused when he couldn’t tell them what day of the week it was or even what year it was. A sergeant reportedly said that Grant should be taken into protective custody. However, the officer who allegedly shoved Grant down the stairs insisted on arresting him, saying that Grant punched him. However, there are conflicting reports about whether Grant intentionally hit him or if the shove caused Grant to punch while he was falling.
Grant was eventually taken to a hospital, where he tried to leave — not realizing that he was hundreds of miles from home. Hospital surveillance video obtained by the AP shows the officer, in an attempt to keep Grant from leaving, grabbing Grant’s arm and flipping him over in what’s known as a “hip toss.” Grant’s body went limp. The officer then proceeded to flip him over and handcuff him.
The veteran died roughly six months later. The death certificate, which was obtained by the AP, listed his paralysis as the cause of death — which they attributed to the “physical assault with body slam.”
The officer who body-slammed Grant was suspended for 15 days and retrained after the Department concluded he was guilty of using excessive force. He reportedly left the Birmingham department and now reportedly works as a part-time police officer in the suburbs.
As for Grant’s family, they filed an unsuccessful civil lawsuit in 2022 that was thrown out by a judge. “If you can’t stand up and say that what happened to Carl Grant was wrong,” an attorney representing the family told the AP, “it just shows how much ground we have to cover to be able to really have a conversation about police accountability.”
