Sandra Bland Lawsuit Filed Against Trooper, County for Wrongful Death

The family of Sandra Bland filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the trooper who arrested Bland along with Waller County Jail guards, the Texas Department of Public Safety and the county.

Bland died in the Waller County Jail on July 13. Her funeral was held on July 25. The jail contends that she hanged herself with a plastic bag that morning. However, her family and friends have questioned that account, along with other details of Bland's arrest and jail time.

The lawsuit addresses a variety of details about Bland's arrest. Her family has questioned why she was arrested in the first place. Bland was pulled over on July 10 while driving by Trooper Brian T. Encinia for failing to signal a lane change.

"The reason we filed a lawsuit today is because candidly we were unable to get any of the answers that we have been asking for for weeks," attorney Cannon Lambert said on Tuesday. "We are looking to hold the people accountable for her being stopped, and mistreated and who are ultimately responsible for her death."

Dashboard footage from the trooper's car shows that the interaction soon turned tense. Encinia demanded Bland get out of her car and seemed to threaten her with a taser when she refused to do so. She was ultimately taken into jail under charges of assaulting an officer.

Bland's family wants to know why she was in jail in the first place. The lawsuit charges that Encinia "falsified an allegation of assault on a public servant," according to Fusion.

Bland's family also says that the jail did not take proper care of Bland. They say she had bouts of crying and refused meals, and both of these signs were ignored for closer watch. The family says they still do not have medical information about Bland, including her full toxicology report and time of death.

"I am the first to tell you that if the facts show without a doubt that that was the case, I'll have to be prepared to deal with that," Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, said about her daughter's alleged suicide, "but the bottom line is she never should have been inside of the jail."