Sandra Bland’s Family Expected a ‘Sham’ Decision From Texas Grand Jury

Coroners say Bland hanged herself at Waller County Jail but her family dispute the suggestion.

Bland’s family has filed a civil suit in an attempt to force the county and individuals involved to take responsibility for their role in her death.

Darrell Jordan, one of the five special prosecutor’s in Bland’s case, said they will still seek an indictment on the arresting officer, Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia, who was widely criticized for his handling of a routine traffic stop that put Bland in jail.

The case is not over, howevrer.

A grand jury declined to indict anyone in the death Sandra Bland, who was found unresponsive in a Texas jail cell last summer, the prosecutor said.

Although Ms. Bland’s family members said that she would not have taken her own life, and suggested that her death may have been a homicide, the autopsy showed that the marks around Bland’s neck were consistent with suicide by hanging, officials confirmed. “The reason those words matter is the African-American community knows that on any given day, some innocent person like Sandra Bland can get into a auto and then three days later she’s going to end up dead in jail”. We are already seeing signs in Baltimore that the use of body cameras can help improve encounters between officers and residents because they hold both sides accountable.

While Texas grand juries typically decide on felony charges, Jordan wouldn’t rule out misdemeanor charges related to the case. Sanders said Bland “would be alive today if she were a white woman”.

The Walter County grand jury shared their decision after 11 hours of deliberations on Monday.

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.

Because he is not a special prosecutor, Looney could speak to future proceedings at the grand jury.

“We’re begging to talk to the Bland family”.

Bland’s mother and sisters spoke at a news conference in Chicago before Monday night’s announcement, where they said they had no faith in the grand jury.

The jury will return in January to consider that issue.

The event Tuesday in Hempstead was organized by Houston activist Deric Muhammad, who says he was disappointed but not surprised by the outcome.

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. In Texas, her death also led to a statewide inquiry into the problem of suicide in county jails and how to solve the problem.

A lawyer for Bland’s family says the whole thing ‘screams of a cover up’.