Protesters decry lack of charges in Bland case

On Monday, a grand jury decided that jailers and sheriff’s officials would not be indicted for their treatment of Bland.

In August, the family of Sandra Bland filed a wrongful death suit against a Texas trooper, a sheriff’s office and her jailers, accusing them of being responsible for her hanging. The grand jury will return in January to consider that.

Texas Department of Public Safety Director Steve McCraw has said Encinia violated internal policies of professionalism and courtesy during the traffic stop, which he made because Bland had made an improper lane change. Dash-cam video shows a confrontational exchange between Bland and the arresting Trooper Brian Encinia, who at one point yells, “I will light you up”, while holding a stun gun after she refused to get out of her auto.

According to jail intake documents, Bland had previously attempted suicide and was feeling “very depressed” the day she was arrested. Three days later she was found dead in her jail cell.

“It’s like starting from square one in dealing with the opposing counsel”, said Bland’s sister Sharon Cooper.

In addition to dash-cam video from Encinia’s patrol vehicle and those of Prairie View police officers who responded to the traffic stop, investigators have reviewed video showing Bland’s arrival and processing at the jail.

About two dozen people have gathered outside of a Texas courthouse to protest a grand jury’s refusal to indict any sheriff’s officials or jailers in the death of a Sandra Bland. It appeared Bland had hanged herself with a plastic garbage bag accessible in her cell.

Jordan, citing the confidentiality of the grand jury system, would not say what those charges could be. He said the family’s lawyers will redouble their efforts to examine a Texas Rangers investigation report about Bland’s death, which was withheld because it is grand jury evidence. Authorities initially ruled it a suicide, but after pressure from the Bland family and the public -which spread news of the death using the hashtags #JusticeForSandy and #WhatHappenedToSandraBland – the Waller County, Texas District Attorney announced that the death would be investigated as a homicide.

“The entire reasoning behind that”, he said, “is to hopefully divert individuals from the criminal justice system into treatment or a more appropriate setting where they might actually receive treatment in lieu of just sitting in the county jail as punishment for a crime”. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Science found Bland died as a result of suicide.

Local officials have said she was not mistreated in jail. “She should never have been ordered to leave her auto in the first place and never have been arrested”.