Bland case highlights lax Texas state police practices

Protests are expected in Texas cities tonight after a grand jury decided not to indict Waller County jail personnel on charges related to the in-custody death of Sandra Bland.

A Texas grand jury declined to indict sheriff’s officials or jailers in the death of a black woman at a county jail last summer, three days after a state trooper pulled her over for a minor traffic violation that led to a combative exchange and her arrest. Special prosecutor, Darrell Jordan said that “the case is still open”, and that the Grand Jury will reconvene next month to discuss other parts of the case.

Bland was pulled over in her auto on July 10 by state trooper Brian Encinia for failing to signal a lane change in Prairie View, about 50 miles northwest of Houston. She was discovered dead in her jail cell three days later, hanging from a cell partition with a plastic garbage bag used as a ligature around her neck. She killed herself, they say, after failed attempts to get family, friends and bondsmen to help post her approximately $515 bond. “We’re disgusted with the grand jury’s decision and we’re calling on the federal government and the attorney general, Loretta Lynch, to intercede directly into this case so that truth and justice can prevail for Sandra Bland’s family”.

Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, said she wants to see all the evidence and is frustrated by delays in the case.

In Chicago, Bland was active in the Black Lives Matter movement, and her death while in police custody immediately stirred conspiracy theorists, Jordan noted Tuesday.

In late July, authorities released hours of jail video in an effort to knock down the idea that Bland was dead before she was brought to jail.

Larry Rogers Jr., a Chicago attorney representing Bland’s family, said Tuesday that the legal team will renew its efforts to examine the findings of a Texas Rangers investigation into her death, which has been withheld because it was grand jury evidence.

At a new conference Monday before the grand jury’s decision was announced, several of Bland’s relatives and an attorney representing the family in a wrongful death lawsuit called the grand jury investigation a “farce” and complained that prosecutors did not reach out to them during the probe.

“We didn’t make a recommendation on anything”, White said.

Waller County prosecutors said the medical examiner found no injuries consistent with struggle.

It’s not clear what charges the grand jury might consider when it reconvenes. “He flat out lied and said he de-escalated the situation”. “It’s all in the way you phrase it”, said Mr. Jordan, who is one of five special prosecutors in the case. When he spoke to her in her vehicle, she refused to put out her cigarette and questioned his motives for pulling her over. County officials say Bland was treated well in jail and produced documents showing that she gave jail workers inconsistent information about whether she was suicidal.