Bland’s death in July 2015, coming amid an intense national debate over how police officers treat black Americans, prompted national protests.
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Bland, 28, was pulled over by a state trooper in Prairie View, northwest of Houston, for changing lanes without signaling. The state trooper who arrested Sandra, Brian Encinia, was sacked earlier this year after being indicted on a perjury charge.
Tom Rhodes, another attorney representing the Bland family, said the county will also be required to install sensors to ensure cell checks electronically.
Three days later, she was found hanging from a noose fashioned from a trash bag.
The settlement with the Texas Department of Public Safety was capped by state statutes. Authorities determine he violated procedures guiding traffic stops and the department’s courtesy policy.
A 52-minute video released by DPS in December 2015 showed Bland arguing with Encinia after he demanded she put out her cigarette, which Bland refused to do. The confrontation continues off-camera but is still audible.
July 22, 2015: Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith reveals Bland told a guard during the booking process she previously tried to kill herself. Her death was ultimately ruled a suicide. The county has denied any mistreatment of Bland. The settlement grants her family a semblance of justice after a grand jury failed to indict any of the jail’s employees.
She was found dead days later, prompting her family to file a wrongful death lawsuit.
December 17, 2015: A judge sets a January 23, 2017, trial date for the wrongful death lawsuit.
“Waller County has acknowledged some of the things I was concerned about, so others won’t have to go through what Sandy did”, Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, told The Chicago Tribune.
Encinia has been indicted on a misdemeanor charge of lying in the arrest report he had written of the incident. She was charged with assaulting an officer. He has the ability to appeal.
She said so much good can come of it and she plans to ask God for guidance.
July 20: Federal judge orders mediation in the wrongful death lawsuit.
The $1.9 million settlement includes a requirement that the jail have a nurse or emergency medical technician on duty 24 hours a day, the family’s Chicago-based attorney, Cannon Lambert, told The Associated Press in an interview at his office.
Her family insists she should never have been arrested in the first place.
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The trooper repeated the order and then opened the driver’s side door of Bland’s auto.
