Post by Admin on Dec 2, 2015 5:57:50 GMT
Death of Sandra Bland
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Sandra_Bland
Sandra Bland was a woman who was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas, on July 13, 2015. Her death was classified as a suicide by the county coroner, and was followed by protests against her arrest, disputing the cause of death and alleging racial violence against her. Bland was 28 years old when she died. Bland had been pulled over for a minor traffic violation on July 10 by state trooper Brian Encinia. He arrested her following an escalating conflict, during which he alleged that she had assaulted him and which was recorded by his dashcam and by a bystander's cell phone. The officer was placed on administrative duty for failing to follow proper traffic stop procedures, as the release of the dashcam video supports the claim that normal procedures were not followed by the arresting officer.
On July 16 Texas authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Houston Division announced that they had begun a joint investigation into Bland's death. The Waller County district attorney's office said that her death would be investigated as a possible murder. A motion-activated camera outside her cell recorded no movement in the hallway for 90 minutes before jailers found her dead.
An autopsy conducted by the Harris County medical examiner ruled Bland's death a suicide, and said it found no evidence of a violent struggle. The results from a second independent autopsy requested by her family have not been released.
Backgrounds
Sandra Bland
Sandra Annette Bland (February 7, 1987 – July 13, 2015) was from Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and was one of five sisters. She attended Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois, then Prairie View A&M University outside Hempstead in Waller County, Texas, where she was a member of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority. She graduated in 2009 with a degree in agriculture.[5][6] At Prairie View, she was recruited as a summer counselor for three years, played in a band, and volunteered for a senior citizens advocacy group.
Bland returned to Illinois in 2009. She worked in administration for Cook's, a food-service equipment supplier, a job she left not long before her death. She had been due to start a temporary job on August 3, 2015, with Prairie View as a summer program associate.
In January 2015, Bland began posting videos about many subjects, including police brutality against blacks. In one post she wrote, "In the news that we've seen as of late, you could stand there, surrender to the cops, and still be killed."[8] She has been described as a civil rights activist in Chicago, and a part of the Black Lives Matter campaign. Bland had at least ten previous encounters with police in Illinois and Texas, and owed $7,579 in fines.
Brian Encinia
Brian Encinia was 30 years old at the time of the incident, and is listed in Texas voter records as Hispanic. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 2008 with a degree in agricultural leadership and development. From 2008 to 2014, he held a position with Blue Bell Creameries as an ingredient-processing supervisor. Prior to his employment as a state trooper in 2014, he served as a volunteer firefighter with the Brenham fire department for four years.
Traffic stop
Encinia stopped Bland on the afternoon of July 10, 2015, on University Drive in Prairie View, Texas, for failure to signal a lane change. In a series of events recorded by his dashcam, Encinia spoke to Bland, the interaction became heated, and he removed her from her car. After they moved out of frame, he placed her on the ground and arrested her.
Dashcam footage
External video
Full dashcam video – the second DPS upload, reportedly free of "technical issues" (Bland from 1:45)
Bland's arrest – filmed by bystander
In response to controversy over Bland's arrest and death, on July 21 police released dashcam footage of the arrest. Parts of the video appeared to be edited, with images of cars and people appearing or vanishing on the road, while the audio of Encinia's voice proceeded without interruption. A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety (DPS) said that irregularities in the video resulted from technical issues that occurred when the video was posted. DPS then took down the problem video and replaced it with another version.
The footage shows that Encinia initially wrote a routine traffic violation warning for Bland. After he returns to her car and speaks briefly to her again, he asks her to put out her cigarette. She responds, "Why do I have to put out a cigarette when I'm in my own car?" Encinia orders her to "get out of the car", and, when she repeatedly refuses to exit, he tells her she is under arrest. Bland repeatedly asks why she is under arrest, and Encinia responds, "I am giving you a lawful order." She refuses to leave her car, stating she is not under arrest as she is unaware of the reason and not obliged to. Encinia then opens her car door and tells her more than a dozen times to get out of the car before he tries to pull her out. After struggling, he draws his Taser and points it at Bland, shouting "I will light you up! Get out! Now!", at which point she exits her vehicle.
Once Bland is out of her car, the officer orders her to put down her cell phone and tells her she is going to jail. In response, Bland asks why. In the video, both Bland and the officer move to the passenger side of the vehicle and are no longer visible, while they continue to argue heatedly. Bland can be heard crying and screaming.
Eyewitness accounts
In a video recorded by a bystander, Bland is lying on the ground with Encinia and a female police officer above her. Bland says that she cannot hear, and states that the officer has slammed her head into the ground. In the video, Encinia orders the bystander to leave the area. Another witness and friend of Bland's told local news that after the police officer forced Bland from her car, he "tossed her to the ground, knee to the neck."
Arrest
DPS stated that Bland was arrested because she kicked Encinia. She was charged with assaulting a public servant. DPS said that she "became argumentative and uncooperative" during the arrest. Officers took her to the Waller County Jail and placed her in a cell alone, because they said they deemed her a high risk to others.
After her arrest, Bland told her sister that the arresting officer had pushed his knees into her back, and that she feared her arm was broken. A Houston television station states it obtained a voice message left by Bland after her arrest in which she asked, "How did switching lanes with no signal turn into all of this?"
Incarceration and death
Bland's bail was set at $5,000. Her family stated they were attempting to secure the 10 percent ($500) needed to secure her release.
On July 28, authorities released several hours of video showing Bland at various times during her jail stay, including arriving at the jail, having her mug shot taken, and making phone calls (see § Waller County Jail videos). They said the footage was being released to dispel rumors and conspiracy theories, including that she was dead before she arrived at the jail and that her mug shot was taken after her death. At a news conference, Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said that such rumors have resulted in death threats against county officials. "Because of some of the things that's gone out on social media, this county has been literally attacked," Duhon said, adding that the FBI is investigating the most serious threats.
Alexandria Pyle, an inmate held in the adjacent cell, later told the media that Bland seemed "sort of distraught," was very emotional, and was crying frequently. Pyle, who spoke to Bland through a tiny chute, said Bland was upset that her friend had not come to bail her out. Pyle stated that she never heard any loud noise or commotion that would indicate foul play in Bland's death.
Discovery by jailer
Police stated that at 6:30 a.m. on July 13, Bland refused breakfast, and a half hour later, around 7:00 a.m., told a jailer "I'm fine." According to Captain Brian Cantrell, about an hour after stating that she was fine, Bland asked via intercom how to make a phone call. Cantrell stated that Bland was informed she could use the phone in her cell with a PIN, but stated there was no record Bland made any call. Police stated that at 9:00 a.m., Bland was found "in a semi-standing position" hanged in her cell.
The next day, shortly after noon, police issued a statement that Bland had been found dead in her cell, and that they believed she had hanged herself. On July 20, one week after Bland's death, authorities released video from a motion-activated camera in the hallway outside Bland's cell. The video has no recording from 7:34 to 9:07 a.m., but shows Bland's discovery by a jailer after that time.
Harris County autopsy
An autopsy conducted by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science concluded that Bland died through asphyxiation, and classified her death as a suicide. Police stated that Bland had used a plastic garbage bag to hang herself. The autopsy report showed Bland had multiple abrasions on the right side of her back, slight abrasions on her wrists, and 25 to 30 healing, parallel cuts on her left forearm that predated her arrest.
Toxicology
An initial toxicology report released by the Harris County medical examiner's office found "a remarkably high concentration" of THC for someone who had been in jail for three days, leading to speculation that Bland may have had access to marijuana while in jail. Waller County assistant district attorney, Warren Diepraam said that it was more likely that Bland had ingested a very large amount of marijuana prior to her arrest. However, a toxicologist for the Tarrant County medical examiner's office said, "I have never seen a report in the literature or from any other source of residual THC that high three days after someone stops using the drug."
Funeral
Bland's funeral was held on July 22 at DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle, Illinois.
Initial reactions
Calls for independent investigation
Family and friends called for an independent autopsy, and stated that it was unlikely Bland would have killed herself. Bland's family said that she was upbeat about the job she was about to begin for Prairie View A&M.
In March, Bland posted a video to her Facebook page in which she said was suffering from "a little bit of depression as well as PTSD". Her sister said that Bland had no "medically diagnosed clinical depression", but had good and bad days. Cannon Lambert, the family's lawyer, stated that Bland's March post gave little indication of her mindset around the time of her death.
A friend who spoke with Bland while she was in jail said she was upbeat despite the arrest: "It just makes no sense. Sandy was a soldier; she wasn't fazed about it."
Critical response and protests
In the two days after authorities announced her death, 31,000 people tweeted using the hashtag #SandraBland, and an online petition launched calling for an investigation of Bland's death. After three days, 200,000 people had tweeted her name.
By July 29, 2015, at least twelve protests had been held for Bland around the country.
On July 17, about 150 protesters gathered outside the Hempstead jail, chanting "No justice, no peace", and "We demand answers." Protesters outside the Sheriff's office where Bland died held vigils and demanded an explanation for her death.
Protesters also asked why Bland had been stopped, and alleged racial profiling. Reverend Jamal Bryant of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore traveled to Chicago at the Bland family's request, and called Bland's death "not a case of suicide, but homicide."
Texas State Senator Royce West called Bland's death suspicious. After meeting with law enforcement and other officials to discuss the circumstances surrounding Bland's death, he said that "the kind of information disclosed on Bland's intake form should have prompted jail officials to place Bland on a suicide watch, meaning a face-to-face check on her welfare every 15 minutes instead of the hourly checks normally required."
Bland's death resulted in protests, and calls for investigation by family, friends and others including Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX).
Eric Zorn, writing for the Chicago Tribune, criticized Encinia for his handling of the traffic stop, calling him a "petty tyrant" and referring to his "Are you done?" as "snippy condescension familiar to anyone experienced in the bickering arts". However, he also said Bland was unnecessarily argumentative. "... You must always defer meekly to the police. Even when they're acting like bullies, goading you or issuing you preposterous orders like to put out your cigarette as you sit in your own car, don't challenge their authority. ... Comply. And if you feel your rights are being violated, take it up later with a judge," Zorn wrote.
On August 13, about 25 heavily armed members of the New Black Panther Party rallied at a Texas jail to protest Bland's death and expressed their rage at police. No arrests were made.
In late August, the Prairie View City Council renamed part of University Drive as Sandra Bland Parkway.
Official response and investigation
The FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety announced on July 16 that they had launched an investigation into Bland's death. The officer who arrested Bland was placed on administrative duties for violating procedures for traffic stops, police said. Waller County Sheriff R. Glenn Smith, who runs the jail in which Bland died, has been placed in charge of Waller County's investigation into her death. Smith was suspended and fired from his previous post as chief of police of Hempstead after alleged incidents of racism and brutality.
On July 20, Waller County district attorney Elton Mathis stated that the county would investigate Bland's death as a possible murder.
Policy violations at jail
According to CNN, Texas State investigation on July 16 ruled that Waller County jail "guards violated policies by failing to do timely checks on inmates," which should be hourly. The report also stated that jail employees had not been adequately trained to deal with mental health problems. The staff had not all undergone the minimum of two hours of mental health training required by the state.
On July 22, county officials produced intake forms that they say indicate Bland had earlier attempted suicide. One questionnaire states that Bland took pills in 2015 after having a miscarriage. Another form filed by a different jail employee says Bland instead attempted suicide earlier, in 2014. One form indicates Bland had contemplated suicide within the past year, while another says she did not.
After a white male prisoner hanged himself with a bedsheet in 2012, Texas state inspectors also cited procedural failings by Waller County Jail's staff.
R. Glenn Smith, the Waller County sheriff, stated that the jail staff may face disciplinary actions for their failures of not putting Bland on a suicide watch, not personally checking on her, and leaving the plastic bag that was fashioned into a noose. The actions "could range from suspensions to transfers to terminations," he told The New York Times.
See also:
Black Lives Matter
Death in custody
Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 1977 U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the legal right of a police officer to order a driver out of a car during a traffic stop
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Sandra_Bland
Sandra Bland was a woman who was found hanged in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas, on July 13, 2015. Her death was classified as a suicide by the county coroner, and was followed by protests against her arrest, disputing the cause of death and alleging racial violence against her. Bland was 28 years old when she died. Bland had been pulled over for a minor traffic violation on July 10 by state trooper Brian Encinia. He arrested her following an escalating conflict, during which he alleged that she had assaulted him and which was recorded by his dashcam and by a bystander's cell phone. The officer was placed on administrative duty for failing to follow proper traffic stop procedures, as the release of the dashcam video supports the claim that normal procedures were not followed by the arresting officer.
On July 16 Texas authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Houston Division announced that they had begun a joint investigation into Bland's death. The Waller County district attorney's office said that her death would be investigated as a possible murder. A motion-activated camera outside her cell recorded no movement in the hallway for 90 minutes before jailers found her dead.
An autopsy conducted by the Harris County medical examiner ruled Bland's death a suicide, and said it found no evidence of a violent struggle. The results from a second independent autopsy requested by her family have not been released.
Backgrounds
Sandra Bland
Sandra Annette Bland (February 7, 1987 – July 13, 2015) was from Naperville, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, and was one of five sisters. She attended Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Illinois, then Prairie View A&M University outside Hempstead in Waller County, Texas, where she was a member of the Sigma Gamma Rho sorority. She graduated in 2009 with a degree in agriculture.[5][6] At Prairie View, she was recruited as a summer counselor for three years, played in a band, and volunteered for a senior citizens advocacy group.
Bland returned to Illinois in 2009. She worked in administration for Cook's, a food-service equipment supplier, a job she left not long before her death. She had been due to start a temporary job on August 3, 2015, with Prairie View as a summer program associate.
In January 2015, Bland began posting videos about many subjects, including police brutality against blacks. In one post she wrote, "In the news that we've seen as of late, you could stand there, surrender to the cops, and still be killed."[8] She has been described as a civil rights activist in Chicago, and a part of the Black Lives Matter campaign. Bland had at least ten previous encounters with police in Illinois and Texas, and owed $7,579 in fines.
Brian Encinia
Brian Encinia was 30 years old at the time of the incident, and is listed in Texas voter records as Hispanic. He graduated from Texas A&M University in 2008 with a degree in agricultural leadership and development. From 2008 to 2014, he held a position with Blue Bell Creameries as an ingredient-processing supervisor. Prior to his employment as a state trooper in 2014, he served as a volunteer firefighter with the Brenham fire department for four years.
Traffic stop
Encinia stopped Bland on the afternoon of July 10, 2015, on University Drive in Prairie View, Texas, for failure to signal a lane change. In a series of events recorded by his dashcam, Encinia spoke to Bland, the interaction became heated, and he removed her from her car. After they moved out of frame, he placed her on the ground and arrested her.
Dashcam footage
External video
Full dashcam video – the second DPS upload, reportedly free of "technical issues" (Bland from 1:45)
Bland's arrest – filmed by bystander
In response to controversy over Bland's arrest and death, on July 21 police released dashcam footage of the arrest. Parts of the video appeared to be edited, with images of cars and people appearing or vanishing on the road, while the audio of Encinia's voice proceeded without interruption. A spokesperson for the Department of Public Safety (DPS) said that irregularities in the video resulted from technical issues that occurred when the video was posted. DPS then took down the problem video and replaced it with another version.
The footage shows that Encinia initially wrote a routine traffic violation warning for Bland. After he returns to her car and speaks briefly to her again, he asks her to put out her cigarette. She responds, "Why do I have to put out a cigarette when I'm in my own car?" Encinia orders her to "get out of the car", and, when she repeatedly refuses to exit, he tells her she is under arrest. Bland repeatedly asks why she is under arrest, and Encinia responds, "I am giving you a lawful order." She refuses to leave her car, stating she is not under arrest as she is unaware of the reason and not obliged to. Encinia then opens her car door and tells her more than a dozen times to get out of the car before he tries to pull her out. After struggling, he draws his Taser and points it at Bland, shouting "I will light you up! Get out! Now!", at which point she exits her vehicle.
Once Bland is out of her car, the officer orders her to put down her cell phone and tells her she is going to jail. In response, Bland asks why. In the video, both Bland and the officer move to the passenger side of the vehicle and are no longer visible, while they continue to argue heatedly. Bland can be heard crying and screaming.
Eyewitness accounts
In a video recorded by a bystander, Bland is lying on the ground with Encinia and a female police officer above her. Bland says that she cannot hear, and states that the officer has slammed her head into the ground. In the video, Encinia orders the bystander to leave the area. Another witness and friend of Bland's told local news that after the police officer forced Bland from her car, he "tossed her to the ground, knee to the neck."
Arrest
DPS stated that Bland was arrested because she kicked Encinia. She was charged with assaulting a public servant. DPS said that she "became argumentative and uncooperative" during the arrest. Officers took her to the Waller County Jail and placed her in a cell alone, because they said they deemed her a high risk to others.
After her arrest, Bland told her sister that the arresting officer had pushed his knees into her back, and that she feared her arm was broken. A Houston television station states it obtained a voice message left by Bland after her arrest in which she asked, "How did switching lanes with no signal turn into all of this?"
Incarceration and death
Bland's bail was set at $5,000. Her family stated they were attempting to secure the 10 percent ($500) needed to secure her release.
On July 28, authorities released several hours of video showing Bland at various times during her jail stay, including arriving at the jail, having her mug shot taken, and making phone calls (see § Waller County Jail videos). They said the footage was being released to dispel rumors and conspiracy theories, including that she was dead before she arrived at the jail and that her mug shot was taken after her death. At a news conference, Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said that such rumors have resulted in death threats against county officials. "Because of some of the things that's gone out on social media, this county has been literally attacked," Duhon said, adding that the FBI is investigating the most serious threats.
Alexandria Pyle, an inmate held in the adjacent cell, later told the media that Bland seemed "sort of distraught," was very emotional, and was crying frequently. Pyle, who spoke to Bland through a tiny chute, said Bland was upset that her friend had not come to bail her out. Pyle stated that she never heard any loud noise or commotion that would indicate foul play in Bland's death.
Discovery by jailer
Police stated that at 6:30 a.m. on July 13, Bland refused breakfast, and a half hour later, around 7:00 a.m., told a jailer "I'm fine." According to Captain Brian Cantrell, about an hour after stating that she was fine, Bland asked via intercom how to make a phone call. Cantrell stated that Bland was informed she could use the phone in her cell with a PIN, but stated there was no record Bland made any call. Police stated that at 9:00 a.m., Bland was found "in a semi-standing position" hanged in her cell.
The next day, shortly after noon, police issued a statement that Bland had been found dead in her cell, and that they believed she had hanged herself. On July 20, one week after Bland's death, authorities released video from a motion-activated camera in the hallway outside Bland's cell. The video has no recording from 7:34 to 9:07 a.m., but shows Bland's discovery by a jailer after that time.
Harris County autopsy
An autopsy conducted by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Science concluded that Bland died through asphyxiation, and classified her death as a suicide. Police stated that Bland had used a plastic garbage bag to hang herself. The autopsy report showed Bland had multiple abrasions on the right side of her back, slight abrasions on her wrists, and 25 to 30 healing, parallel cuts on her left forearm that predated her arrest.
Toxicology
An initial toxicology report released by the Harris County medical examiner's office found "a remarkably high concentration" of THC for someone who had been in jail for three days, leading to speculation that Bland may have had access to marijuana while in jail. Waller County assistant district attorney, Warren Diepraam said that it was more likely that Bland had ingested a very large amount of marijuana prior to her arrest. However, a toxicologist for the Tarrant County medical examiner's office said, "I have never seen a report in the literature or from any other source of residual THC that high three days after someone stops using the drug."
Funeral
Bland's funeral was held on July 22 at DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle, Illinois.
Initial reactions
Calls for independent investigation
Family and friends called for an independent autopsy, and stated that it was unlikely Bland would have killed herself. Bland's family said that she was upbeat about the job she was about to begin for Prairie View A&M.
In March, Bland posted a video to her Facebook page in which she said was suffering from "a little bit of depression as well as PTSD". Her sister said that Bland had no "medically diagnosed clinical depression", but had good and bad days. Cannon Lambert, the family's lawyer, stated that Bland's March post gave little indication of her mindset around the time of her death.
A friend who spoke with Bland while she was in jail said she was upbeat despite the arrest: "It just makes no sense. Sandy was a soldier; she wasn't fazed about it."
Critical response and protests
In the two days after authorities announced her death, 31,000 people tweeted using the hashtag #SandraBland, and an online petition launched calling for an investigation of Bland's death. After three days, 200,000 people had tweeted her name.
By July 29, 2015, at least twelve protests had been held for Bland around the country.
On July 17, about 150 protesters gathered outside the Hempstead jail, chanting "No justice, no peace", and "We demand answers." Protesters outside the Sheriff's office where Bland died held vigils and demanded an explanation for her death.
Protesters also asked why Bland had been stopped, and alleged racial profiling. Reverend Jamal Bryant of the Empowerment Temple AME Church in Baltimore traveled to Chicago at the Bland family's request, and called Bland's death "not a case of suicide, but homicide."
Texas State Senator Royce West called Bland's death suspicious. After meeting with law enforcement and other officials to discuss the circumstances surrounding Bland's death, he said that "the kind of information disclosed on Bland's intake form should have prompted jail officials to place Bland on a suicide watch, meaning a face-to-face check on her welfare every 15 minutes instead of the hourly checks normally required."
Bland's death resulted in protests, and calls for investigation by family, friends and others including Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX).
Eric Zorn, writing for the Chicago Tribune, criticized Encinia for his handling of the traffic stop, calling him a "petty tyrant" and referring to his "Are you done?" as "snippy condescension familiar to anyone experienced in the bickering arts". However, he also said Bland was unnecessarily argumentative. "... You must always defer meekly to the police. Even when they're acting like bullies, goading you or issuing you preposterous orders like to put out your cigarette as you sit in your own car, don't challenge their authority. ... Comply. And if you feel your rights are being violated, take it up later with a judge," Zorn wrote.
On August 13, about 25 heavily armed members of the New Black Panther Party rallied at a Texas jail to protest Bland's death and expressed their rage at police. No arrests were made.
In late August, the Prairie View City Council renamed part of University Drive as Sandra Bland Parkway.
Official response and investigation
The FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety announced on July 16 that they had launched an investigation into Bland's death. The officer who arrested Bland was placed on administrative duties for violating procedures for traffic stops, police said. Waller County Sheriff R. Glenn Smith, who runs the jail in which Bland died, has been placed in charge of Waller County's investigation into her death. Smith was suspended and fired from his previous post as chief of police of Hempstead after alleged incidents of racism and brutality.
On July 20, Waller County district attorney Elton Mathis stated that the county would investigate Bland's death as a possible murder.
Policy violations at jail
According to CNN, Texas State investigation on July 16 ruled that Waller County jail "guards violated policies by failing to do timely checks on inmates," which should be hourly. The report also stated that jail employees had not been adequately trained to deal with mental health problems. The staff had not all undergone the minimum of two hours of mental health training required by the state.
On July 22, county officials produced intake forms that they say indicate Bland had earlier attempted suicide. One questionnaire states that Bland took pills in 2015 after having a miscarriage. Another form filed by a different jail employee says Bland instead attempted suicide earlier, in 2014. One form indicates Bland had contemplated suicide within the past year, while another says she did not.
After a white male prisoner hanged himself with a bedsheet in 2012, Texas state inspectors also cited procedural failings by Waller County Jail's staff.
R. Glenn Smith, the Waller County sheriff, stated that the jail staff may face disciplinary actions for their failures of not putting Bland on a suicide watch, not personally checking on her, and leaving the plastic bag that was fashioned into a noose. The actions "could range from suspensions to transfers to terminations," he told The New York Times.
See also:
Black Lives Matter
Death in custody
Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 1977 U.S. Supreme Court decision regarding the legal right of a police officer to order a driver out of a car during a traffic stop