Five months after Sandra Bland died in a Texas jail cell, a grand jury has decided not to to indict any jail employees connected to her death. The decision, handed down Monday (Dec. 21) follows hours of evidence heard by the jury.
“Right now, the biggest problem for me is the entire process,” Bland’s mom said. “I simply can’t have faith in a system that’s not inclusive of my family that’s supposed to have the investigation.”
Bland’s death, which was ruled a suicide by hanging, fueled protests and outrage in the continuing fight against police brutality. “We are not going to allow what they have done in a limited, secret capacity to prevent us from doing what we need to do to get answers for the family,” Cannon Lambert, Bland family attorney, said Monday night.
Bland, 28, was pulled over for a traffic violation, last July. The Harris County deputy’s heated exchange with Bland can be heard on a recording of the run-in. Bland wants to know why she’s being pulled over, and required to step out of her car.
Later in the tape, the deputy threatens to taser Bland, and forcefully detains her. A second deputy shows up to the scene, and Bland can be heard crying and pleading that deputies are hurting her as she’s being handcuffed.
Bland was then jailed, where she stayed for the final three days of her life. One of her last calls was to a friend, LaVaughn Mosley. “Still just at a loss for words honestly at this whole process” she says on Mosley’s voicemail. “How did switching lanes with no signal turn into all of this?”
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Photo: Facebook
