A grand jury indicted Trooper Brian Encinia on Wednesday with the misdemeanor charge. The same grand jury opted not to indict any sheriff’s officials or jailers in Bland’s death last month.
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Dashcam footage of Bland’s traffic stop shows the officer threatening the 28-year-old woman with a stun gun while she was still in her vehicle, and yelling, “I will light you up!”.
The officer pulled over Ms Bland on 10 July for making an improper lane change close to Prairie View A&M University. It is a serious situation and I really don’t want another one.
Back in IL, local residents have not forgotten Sandra Bland, who was known as a social justice activist. A legislative inquiry into the conditions surrounding Bland’s death and jail suicides in general was led by Rep. Garnet Coleman, D-Houston, who is chair of the House Committee on County Affairs.
The trooper is accused of lying about how he removed Bland from her vehicle.
(AP Photo/Michael Graczyk). About two dozen people demonstrate outside the Waller County Courthouse on Wednesday, Jan. 6, 2016, in Hempstead, Texas.
HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) – The indictment and expected firing of the Texas state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland, a black woman who later died in jail, are “bittersweet” for her sister.
Speaking afterward, one protester, Jinaki Muhammad, called the misdemeanor charge “a slap in the face to the Bland family”. The video shows Encinia dragging Bland from her auto and slamming her head on the ground, responding “good” when she warns him of her epilepsy. But like many Black families, Geneva Reed-Veal, Bland’s mother, has taken her fight to the civil courts.
Ms Bland was eventually arrested for assault on a public servant. The confrontation continues off-camera but is still audible.
Authorities said Bland used a plastic garbage bag as a noose to hang herself from an overhead partition inside her cell.
Encinia was placed on administrative for violating procedures and the department’s courtesy policy during the traffic stop. Social media users even said that Bland’s mugshot might have been taken after her death.
She remained in prison following her arrest because she could not raise around $500 for bail.
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During Wednesday’s indictment, the family’s lawyer Cannon Lambert said there are still unanswered questions.
