The family of a Gwinnett County girl who was killed in 2022, allegedly by a police officer, has sued the apartment complex for which he worked and where she was last seen.
Susana Morales, 16, went missing in July of that year as she walked a short distance home after visiting her friend at the Sterling Glen Apartments near Norcross. Her skeletonized remains were found in February 2023 in a wooded area near Drowning Creek just outside Dacula, more than 20 miles from the complex. Investigators have been unable to determine how she died.
Miles Bryant, 23, was arrested a few days later and fired from the Doraville Police Department the same day. He faces several charges, including malice murder, felony murder, attempted rape, kidnapping and false report of a crime.
At the time of Morales’ disappearance, Bryant lived and served as a “courtesy” officer at Sterling Glen, and attorneys for Morales’ family argue that property managers knew or should have known of his disciplinary history with Doraville police and that it would have precluded him from working at the complex.
Apartment properties often employ or offer discounted rent to police officers who live on-site to serve as courtesy officers, providing security and fielding noise and other resident complaints after hours.
Brandon Smith, the family’s lead attorney, said they hope to find out how the former officer was apparently so easily hired.
“It is surprising that he was just rubber-stamped as a courtesy officer,” he said. “We just want to try to do right by this family and our community.”
Attempts to reach the defendants — PD Glen LLC, Strategic Management Partners LLC and Park Drive Equities — were not successful.
Credit: Rosana Hughes/AJC
Credit: Rosana Hughes/AJC
The lawsuit, filed Monday in Gwinnett State Court by the teen’s father, Florentino Morales, through her estate, alleges that those companies were negligent in their hiring of Bryant because they should have noted at least two instances of workplace misconduct if they had checked his background.
For example, in one case mentioned in the suit, Bryant received a 12-hour suspension after being “disrespectful” toward another Doraville officer on Nov. 23, 2021, according to documents previously obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He allegedly approached the officer’s patrol vehicle while stretching his arms as if holding a firearm and told the officer something “to the effect of ‘Keep your head on a swivel,’” his superior wrote in the disciplinary file.
In the lawsuit, the attorneys shed more light on the incident, alleging that Bryant “pretended to have a gun underneath his hoodie as he approached his fellow officer.” Additionally, they argue that managers should have been aware that Bryant was disciplined for “duty to be prompt/punctual” by reporting late to work three times within a month starting two days after the faux firearm incident.
In a third incident not included in the lawsuit, Bryant was reprimanded in October 2022 after failing to submit a missing person report within the two-hour limit mandated by the National Crime Information Center, the AJC previously reported.
It is not clear if Bryant was hired before or after he’d been disciplined at work. Regardless, attorneys for the Moraleses contend that managers should have had a system to ensure that those living there did not pose a threat to the public.
The family alleges that management should have been aware that Bryant was “often heard loudly arguing with his girlfriend in his apartment” and that he “had at least two physical altercations with his girlfriend” at the complex.
He also allegedly told other residents that he “did not take his job seriously and said it was just a ‘paycheck,’” the lawsuit states.
In addition, the suit accuses the property managers of neglecting to warn residents and visitors of “numerous instances of criminal activity” — unrelated to Bryant’s alleged acts — taking place on or around the property and failing to provide proper security.
Morales’ family is seeking an unspecified amount in damages, including punitive. They have asked for a jury trial.
While not included in the civil complaint, Bryant faces several additional allegations of troubling conduct, including an unrelated burglary charge filed after his 2023 arrest when the victims recognized his face in the news. In that case, Snellville police said he broke into a former high school classmate’s home in 2019.
Other allegations have been lodged in motions filed in the Morales case, with prosecutors detailing numerous unsettling instances in which Bryant is accused of covertly sending himself explicit photographs of various women, including some with whom he worked and at least some cases in which he obtained the images from people he had arrested or detained.
Bryant remains in the Gwinnett jail after being denied bond on most of his charges. His next hearing date is scheduled for April 24, during which the judge will address all pending motions.
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