Family of woman found dead in jail orders new autopsy
PRAIRIE VIEW, Texas — As mourners concerned about the death of a black woman arrested after a traffic stop gathered here for a vigil, a lawyer said the woman's family members are commissioning an independent autopsy to look at how she died.
Authorities said Sandra Bland, 28, a Naperville, Ill., native who graduated from Prairie View A&M University in 2009, committed suicide by hanging herself with a plastic bag on her third day in Waller County Jail. Family said the explanation doesn't ring true because Bland had just accepted a new, temporary job at the school's Cooperative Extension Program and was eager to start a new life in Texas.
"We have to have justice for Sister Sandra Bland," Deric Muhammad, a Houston-based activist, said at a Sunday vigil with dozens of mourners at the historically black college. "What happened to Sandra Bland is not just a hashtag. What happened to Sandra Bland is a real question."
Across the USA, others have been taking their outrage to social media, tweeting with the hashtags #JusticeForSandy, #BlackLivesMatter and #IfIDieInPoliceCustody.
Bland's family expects autopsy results within 48 to 72 hours, their lawyer, Cannon Lambert, said Sunday.
Bland was pulled over July 10 in Waller County for failing to signal a lane change, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety. The state trooper who stopped her planned to give her a warning but changed her mind when she became uncooperative and argumentative.
She then was arrested and taken to Waller County Jail in Hempstead, Texas, about 60 miles northwest of Houston. She was still in jail July 13 awaiting posting of bond when she was found dead; the Harris County medical examiner ruled her death suicide by asphyxiation.
No cameras were in her cell, but video from the hallway outside showed no one enter or leave between the last time she spoke to deputies via intercom and when her body was discovered, said Elton Mathis, Waller County district attorney.
"We need answers," said Jacolahn Dudley, president of the university's Student Government Association. "I don't want to come off accusing anybody, accusing Waller County police, accusing the state troopers. But we need to know what happened."
Texas Rangers and the FBI also are looking for answers. The 30-year-old trooper with one year of experience who arrested Bland, Brian Encinia, was placed on desk duty Friday after a preliminary review found that he had violated department procedures and the agency's courtesy policy, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Results of any investigation won't be turned over until a county grand jury meets in August, Mathis said. The district attorney and investigators expect to meet with Bland's relatives this week.
Her sister, Sharon Cooper, attended services Sunday at Hope African Methodist Episcopal Church here, according to the Houston Chronicle.
"She kept everybody going," Bland's friend Erica Ward said at the evening vigil. "It just hurts at this point. It still hurts because she was our friend. She was our sister."
Contributing: The Associated Press