Bland case highlights some 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.

Bland was found dead in a Waller County Jail cell on July 13, three days after she was arrested during a traffic stop. The grand jury will return in January to consider that.

The woman, who was from the Chicago area, was jailed in July for becoming “argumentative and uncooperative” after being pulled over for making an improper lane change, police said. In dashboard camera video that became yet another flashpoint in the national controversy over racial bias by police, Trooper Brian Encinia shouts at Bland for refusing to get out of the auto or put out her cigarette and threatens at one point to jolt her with his Taser. Three days later she was found dead in her jail cell.

Muhammad says he agrees with Bland’s relatives who said they didn’t expect much from a grand jury system. A medical examiner ruled her death suicide, but her family disputes the finding. Bernie Sanders issued a statement late Monday in response to a grand jury’s decision not to issue an indictment in connection to the death of a 28-year-old Black woman who died while in police custody.

“We don’t have any information about what happened to my daughter”. County officials said they themselves received death threats. Her family publicly rejected the idea that Bland killed herself, launching an investigation into the cause of her death.

Encinia, who in June completed a year-long probationary stint as a new trooper, has been on administrative duty since the Bland death.

Bland family attorneys contend Waller County jailers should have checked on her more frequently and that the county should have performed mental evaluations once Ms Bland disclosed she had a history of attempting suicide.

In this undated file frame from video provided by the Waller County Sheriff’s Department, Sandra Bland stands before a desk at Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas. “With the family, I know they’re somewhat disappointed”.

She said she was not surprised by the grand jury’s decision after seeing how other high-profile police confrontations around the country have played out.

A judge last week set a January 2017 trial date for that case.

“We have left no rock unturned, and the Grand jury, anything that they have asked for we have done our best to give it to them”, said Darrell Jordan.

Legal scholars say the U.S. Supreme Court has made clear an officer can order a motorist out of a vehicle, as Encinia did with Bland.

Houston Chronicle reporter Sinjin Smith has been reporting on Bland’s case.

In the case of Bland, the “reasonable suspicion” is actually a certainty-she committed a moving violation while driving, and never herself contests this violation.