He asked everyone to pressure the government for a federal investigation into Ms Bland’s death.
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The Harris County, Texas, medical examiner’s office determined through an autopsy that Bland hanged herself with a plastic bag.
“Maybe. But, it must always be remembered that the parameters of “respectable behavior” are both raced and gendered”.
The DPS found Encinia violated department procedure and placed him on desk duty. She refused to express fear. And when danger is the default, even small challenges to authority often get met with a “defense of life” response.
A Cleveland cop violently pepper-sprayed attendees of the National Black Lives Matter conference, just a day after Sandra Bland was laid to rest.
Rev. Theresa Dear arrives for the funeral service at DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church.
HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) A committee of outside attorneys will assist the Texas district attorney investigating the death of Sandra Bland, the black woman who was found dead in her jail cell three days after a traffic stop by a white state trooper. She was then arrested and charged with assaulting the arresting officer who said that she was “combative”.
Days later she was found hanging in her jail cell. But that story hasn’t sat well with Bland’s family, and many feel that official details about Bland’s time in jail-from her mental health evaluation, to the autopsy report and booking documents-have left several questions unanswered.
If Mathis disagrees with them, the lawyers on the panel will have the authority to present their findings to the grand jury reviewing Bland’s death, he said. Taibbi points out “how much mischief can arise from the fact that a person may be arrested at any time for “failing to obey a lawful order, ‘ which in the heat of the moment can mean just about anything”. “We take on the people’s cause. And there are some states where you are required to answer basic identifying questions (name and address) by the police”. “Like the Bland case”. Encinia, of the Texas Department of Public Safety, has said he pulled Bland over after seeing her change lanes without signalling. We have much to celebrate. “It’s especially true given our long and sordid history of overpolicing misdemeanors”. Ms. Lynch said. “I do think that what has been a important part of the debate in Miss Bland’s death has been the discussions that we’ve seen from community members and police leaders alike… about the importance of training and deescalating incidents”. “They have no respect, even when we do get elected”.
At Bland’s funeral, friends and family reiterated that she was a smart, assertive woman, and well known as having “healthy self-esteem”, according to Dear. “When the law can be stretched to mean nearly anything, obeying it is no magic bullet”.
Eric Broyles, Washington DC attorney and author of “Encounters With Police: A Black Man’s Guide to Survival”, spoke with the Marshall Project on Ms Bland’s death.
Some carried signs that said “Justice for Sandra”.
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Bland was arrested, taken to the Waller County jail, and held on $5,000 bond. He was accused of racism as police chief, Sheriff Smith said in an interview, “but racism was not what was going on”.
