Trooper Indicted in Sandra Bland Traffic Stop

The Waller Country grand jury indicted Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia on perjury charges.

Encinia won’t be bullying motorists in the future: The Department of Public Safety followed up on the indictment by firing him from his state trooper’s job. But video footage of the arrest and her death quickly called that into question.

Hempstead, TX-Twenty-five activists protested outside the grand jury at the Waller County Courthouse on January 6. After an autopsy by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences in Houston, officials ruled her death a suicide. She was found dead in her jail cell three days later, on July 13, hanging from a jail cell partition with a plastic garbage bag around her neck.

Bland’s arrest and death provoked national outrage and drew the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement.

After the argument moved off-camera, she was heard screaming that he was about to break her wrists and she complained that her head knocked against the ground.

Sandra Bland stands in front of a desk at Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas.

This follows a recent grand jury decision not to indict any sheriff’s officials or jailers suspected of murdering Sandra Bland.

Encinia could spend up to a year in jail and be forced to pay a $4,000 fine.

DPS announced Wednesday evening it planned to fire Encinia.

Special prosecutors were not immediately available for comment on the proceedings, which were held behind closed doors.

“It’s clear that Officer Encinia’s conduct was gross, it was negligent and poor judgement at best and something that’s been on video for the last 5 and a half months”, Cooper said.

“We would frankly be surprised”, Cannon Lambert said.

“TOP believes that the indictment further shows that Trooper Encinia blatantly violated that trust and accountability, and his firing is therefore justified”. It is a serious situation and I really don’t want another one. One protester’s sign read, “Legalize black skin”.

Bland, 28, was forcibly taken out of her vehicle on July 10 for failing to signal while switching lanes and was arrested.

The video shows the trooper drawing his stun gun after Bland refuses to get out of her vehicle.

The argument began after she was asked to put out her cigarette and he demanded she get out of her auto. The confrontation continues off-camera but is still audible. Soon after a grand jury returned the indictment, the state said Encinia would be fired.

Geneva Reed-Veal, Bland’s mother, has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court in Houston against Encinia, the Department of Public Safety, Waller County and two jail employees.