NovicePeanuts

Never forget... What started as a traffic stop over a turn signal ended with a 28-year-old woman dead in a Texas jail cell. So what happened to Sandra Bland? On July 10, 2015, Sandra Bland was pulled over near Prairie View A&M University by Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia for failing to properly signal a lane change. The encounter quickly became heated. Dashcam footage showed Encinia ordering Bland out of her vehicle, reaching into the car and threatening to use a Taser when she refused to get out immediately. Bland was eventually arrested and taken to Waller County Jail on a charge of assaulting a public servant. Three days later, on July 13, Bland was found dead in her jail cell. The medical examiner ruled her death a suicide, although the circumstances surrounding her death immediately prompted questions about jail procedures and whether she had been properly monitored. Then investigators examined Encinia's arrest report. In the report, he claimed that he had asked Bland to exit the vehicle so he could continue a safe traffic investigation. But the dashboard-camera footage showed a much more confrontational encounter. In January 2016, a grand jury indicted Encinia on a perjury charge, concluding that his written account conflicted with what the video showed. The Texas Department of Public Safety then began the process of firing him. Encinia eventually agreed to surrender his law-enforcement license and never work in law enforcement again. The perjury charge was later dismissed at the prosecution's request. But what about Bland's death? A Waller County grand jury considered whether anyone should face criminal charges over her death. In December 2015, it declined to indict anyone in connection with her death. Bland's family later filed a wrongful-death lawsuit. In 2016, the family reached a $1.9 million settlement with Waller County and the Texas Department of Public Safety, along with changes to jail procedures. Sandra Bland had moved from Illinois to Texas to begin a new job at Prairie View A&M University. Instead, a routine traffic stop became the final chapter of her life. Her name was Sandra Bland. #sandrabland #sayhername #lawenforcement #police #policebrutality