No indictment for jailers, but Sandra Bland’s death may prompt change yet

“After reviewing all the evidence in the death of Sandra Bland, a Waller grand jury did not return an indictment in the death of Bland, nor were any indictments returned against any employee of the Waller County Jail”, Jordan said after the grand jury met for more than eight hours Monday.

The case is not over, howevrer. 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.

Texas officials insist that the case is not closed when it comes to the death of Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old African-American woman who was found dead in a Texas jail cell days after she was arrested unnecessarily during a traffic stop. An independent special prosecutor says the process isn’t over and the grand jury will meet again in January to consider charges against the trooper who arrested Bland, though a lawyer for her family says it has all been a “sham of a proceeding”, the Houston Chronicle reports. Bland was arrested by officers of the Waller County Sheriff’s department after she was pulled over due to a failure to signal before changing lanes. He declined to say what charges still could be considered and against whom.

Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, criticized the investigation at a Monday afternoon press conference. So, the question of whether or not the altercation that led to her arrest stemmed from a legal action on her part will be one that the grand jury has to weigh in its probing of Encinia’s actions.

Bland’s death occurred during the upsurge of the Black Lives Matter movement, inciting conversation about the treatment of black people by police in our country.

Last week, a judge in Houston set a trial date for 2017 for a wrongful death suit filed against Waller County. He asked her to get out of the auto, she refused, and he tried to yank her out.

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.

There are other indictments the grand jury is considering, but the county would not go into detail.

No mention has been made by the family about Sandra Bland’s personal responsibility in disobeying an order from a police officer and her alleged assault of the trooper. She was transported to Waller County Jail, where her body was found hanging by a trash bag in her cell three days later. As the traffic stop escalates, she is also heard saying, “you slammed my head into the ground, do you even care about that?” She had also been critical of police on social media.