“As of today, I cannot confirm if she did or did not receive medication while she was in the Waller County Jail”, Capt. Brian Cantrell of the Waller County Sheriff’s Office told The Texas Tribune on Monday.
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Bland was arrested by a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper following a minor traffic infraction.
Sandra Bland mugshot. Waller County, Texas jail.
Bland was arrested, slammed to the ground and thrown in jail for simply after being stopped for failing to use a turn signal.
(Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune via AP).
It also sparked online rumors that Bland had died prior to being booked.
The video also shows her later, after she changed from her street clothes into a jail jumpsuit that she wears for the fingerprinting and photography of the booking procedure.
Duhon said the rumors have placed officials in Waller County under “cyber attack”, and he named the group Anonymous for spreading the claim that Bland was already dead when her mug shot was taken.
Bland was found hanging in her jail cell on the morning of July 13, with a plastic trash bag around her neck.
A committee of outside attorneys will assist Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis in investigating Bland’s death.
The footage shows her arriving at the jail, filling out forms and making a phone call. And she was seen talking with animation during some of the calls, although the video has no audio. In parts of the footage, the video was looped while the officer’s audio continued uninterrupted. But Bland’s family and many others didn’t accept the official explanation.
The 28-year-old’s death has raised a number of questions after it gained worldwide attention amid increased scrutiny on police treatment of minorities. But, he said, given the faster rate at which the main chemical is released from body fat stores after death, it is not possible from the results to make a definitive conclusion that she was using marijuana or under the influence of marijuana at the time of her arrest or death.
When asked about the report of marijuana in Bland’s system, per her autopsy, Duhon there was “nothing that indicated anything”. Besides, having been arrested while driving; the amount was three times more of the legal limit for drivers.
While Mathis wouldn’t discuss the report Monday, one of his prosecutors, Warren Diepraam, said last week that he wouldn’t rule out the drug being smuggled into the jail.
Meanwhile, The Associated Press reported early on Mathis referred to Bland as an “it” and passionately encouraged the public to assess her behavior during the traffic stop.
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However, one of the committee members, Lewis White of Sugar Land says that they are not certain that they will ever get an answer to the issue.
