Sandra Bland died in police custody in Waller County, Texas after being pulled over for allegedly not using her turn signal in July 2015, and this week, her family won a wrongful death lawsuit.
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Dash-cam video of the traffic stop showed Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia pulling his stun gun out on Bland.
The attorney for Sandra Bland’s family, Cannon Lambert, told the media that the details of the settlement had finally been agreed upon Wednesday night with the Texas Department of Public Safety.
“One thing I had hoped for since beginning of the case was that Sandra’s case would change things for people in rural jails, where the awareness and accountability surrounding what’s happening to them is virtually nonexistent”, United Methodist minister Hannah Bonner told the Chronicle.
While her family maintains she was in no way suicidal at the time of her death, at her booking, Bland is on tape telling jail officials that she has previously attempted to commit suicide.
Finally, state representatives will also be asked to work together to draft legislation in Bland’s name to require similar changes in other rural jails. The Waller County jail will pay the remaining $1.8 million.
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.
In his arrest warrant, Encinia alleged that Bland was “combative and uncooperative”. Authorities ruled her death a suicide, claiming she hanged herself, but family members disagree, saying she would have never taken her own life.
Bland was detained after a minor traffic violation when the arresting officer failed to follow proper traffic stop procedures.
Reed-Veal says while she feels she still has not received the full story on her daughter’s death, she is hopeful that the changes called for in the agreement will prevent future tragedies. Dashcam footage from Encinia’s patrol vehicle shows Encinia pull Bland from her auto after she refuses to put out her cigarette and scream at her “I will light you up!” in reference to his Taser.
January 6: Waller County grand jury indicts Encinia for perjury, a misdemeanor, for lying about how he removed Bland from her auto during the stop. Some of the arrest was captured on video, and Bland can be heard protesting the arrest.
March 22: Encina pleads not guilty to the misdemeanor perjury charge.
Waller County police received much backlash after reports showed that the guard neglected to do regular checks on the inmates.
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She was in Texas from her home in Naperville, Illinois to interview for a job at Prairie View A&M University. Three days after her arrest, she was found hanging from a jail cell partition.
