Bland, 28, was found dead in her jail cell on July 13, 2015.
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The Texas Department of Public Safety and the Waller County Jail, run by the local sheriff, will pay the money to the family of Sandra Bland, Houston TV station KTRK station reported.
“I believe that this is going to spearhead other people saying no, you don’t get a chance to just give me a couple of dollars”, said Geneva Reed-Veal, about her quest to codify permanent change in the aftermath of her daughter’s death.
Part of the settlement includes changes to jail procedures in Waller County, reports CNN.
The Texas Department of Public Safety will pay $100,000 of the settlement, the maximum it can pay under state statues. The state trooper who arrested Sandra, Brian Encinia, was sacked earlier this year after being indicted on a perjury charge. The white state trooper who pulled her over planned on giving her a written warning, but DPS says he changed his mind when Bland became uncooperative and argumentative. Three days later, she was found dead in her jail cell. In the arrest warrant, Encinia wrote that Bland was behaving violently and he had been forced to subdue her with force. However, her family still insists she wouldn’t have killed herself. Bland’s mother has denied that Bland ever faced depression, and has previously said at a symposium of The Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls that she does not believe Bland committed suicide.
No criminal charges were ever filed in Bland’s death.
Attorneys for Waller County said in a statement Thursday morning that “a potential settlement agreement has been reached, but is not yet final”, adding that there are still details being sorted out and that it must be approved by county officials.
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.
Encinia was later indicted for perjury and fired.
The officer who stopped her, Brian Encinia, was sacked in March after he was indicted for perjury by a grand jury, in connection with statements he gave about the traffic stop, CNN reports. She was sent to Waller County Jail and held on $5,000 bail.
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It was shown that jail guards did not check on Bland in a timely fashion, which could have saved her life.
