Groups in Texas Hold Vigil, Protest in Death of Sandra Bland

Bland was laid to rest on Saturday morning in Lisle, Illinois, a Chicago suburb, where according to the New York Times, hundreds of people showed up to mourn her tragic death. NBC 5’s Katie Kim reports.

Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell days after she was arrested following a minor traffic offense.

Noting the historically contentious relationship between Black communities and law enforcement, Attorney General Loretta Lynch discussed how Sandra Bland’s death is a prime example of the concern that police encounters will end fatally. But her friends and family are still in a state of shock and confusion as they still struggle to understand the reasons of her arrest and death.

On July 13, Bland was found hanging from a noose made from plastic bag in her cell at the Waller County Jail in Texas, where she was incarcerated after allegedly assaulting an officer during a July 10 traffic stop. Mathis also said that press conferences conducted by the Waller County DA’s office would decrease, as the committee, along with the Texas Rangers and Federal Bureau of Investigation, look into evidence. NBC 5’s Charlie Wojciechowski reports.

Sandra Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, center, and sister Shavon Bland, right, at the internment at Mt. Glenwood Memorial Gardens West in Willow Springs, Illinois, on July 25.

But the perception of police officers, often accompanied by a fear that many don’t leave these interactions alive, will be hard to change, Lynch suggested.

The people who came to the funeral remembered Sandra Bland as a person who always offered advices.

They want people to say her name.

The autopsy of a black woman who was found dead in a Texas jail has revealed no injuries that would suggest she was killed by someone else, authorities have said.

Mourners lined up for over an hour outside the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in suburban Lisle to file past an open casket and to attend the services. “We’re not funeralizing a martyr or a victim; we’re celebrating a hero!” It’s going straight to voicemail and I don’t know why, I don’t know why.

However, Bland’s family members refuse to accept that the 28 year-old killed herself, and their attorney Cannon Lambert said she has never been clinically diagnosed and there were no medications they were aware of that she was taking to address any sort of epilepsy or depression.

Bland, originally from the Chicago area, had been about to start a temporary job at Prairie View A&M, when she was stopped by the trooper.