Who was Sandra Bland?

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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. At Prairie View, she was recruited as a summer counselor for three years, played in the marching 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 mistreatment of black people. 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." She has been described as a civil rights activist in Chicago, and a part of the Black Lives Matter movement. 

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What happened to her?

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She lost her life on July 13th, 2015, three days after being arrested by Brian Encinia during a pretextual traffic stop. Pretextual traffic stops or “terry stops” allow police to detain a person based on “reasonable suspicion” of involvement in criminal activity. However, Encinia’s reason for stopping Bland was that after tailing her, she didn’t use her signal when she switched lanes to let him by.

 

Encinia had a history of performing pretextual traffic stops, having issued 1,600 mostly minor tickets in less than 12 months, using the pretext of little-enforced minor infractions to then perform random searches in the hope of finding something criminal. He began following Bland in Prairie View, Texas on the afternoon of July 10, 2015, accelerating fast on her rear, closing in so near to her that she changed lanes to give him the right of way, believing he was headed to an emergency call – at which point he pulled her over on University Drive for failure to signal a lane change, though he could have still stopped her if she did signal, under a different section of the Texas Transportation Code requiring a continuous lane change signal for a minimum of 100 feet (30 m). In a series of events recorded by his dashcam, along with a bystander and Bland herself, Encinia spoke to Bland, the interaction became heated, and he pulled her from her car. After they moved out of frame, he forced her on the ground, and arrested her. 

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In response to controversy over Bland's arrest and death, on July 21 the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) 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. The footage shows that Encinia's tone and attitude change after he asks if Bland is irritated and she answers affirmatively. He initially wrote a routine traffic violation warning for Bland after she moved over but did not signal to let him pass since he was tailing her closely. 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.[29] 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. Bland's own 39-second video of part of the confrontation, which had been in possession of state investigators, was discovered in 2019 and aired by a Texas TV station. Bland's family and their lawyer in the civil lawsuit claim that the state had not given them this evidence. The Texas Department of Public Safety disagreed.

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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. She tells him that she is epileptic. This is confirmed by police dashcam video footage, in which the officer responds "Good," after Bland informs him of her condition. In the video, Encinia orders the bystander to leave the area. Sandra Bland also recorded the arrest on her own cell phone; that video became public in 2019 and was not part of the civil trial evidence. 

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Her Arrest

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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 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?" 

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Bland's bail was set at $5,000. According to a statement from the jail officials, she had been given multiple opportunities to find someone who could post bond including a man she was staying with in Texas who "ignored her calls". Her bondsman also made several attempts to secure bail. Her family later 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. 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. 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. 

 

Her Death

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Police stated that at 6:30 a.m. on July 13, Bland refused breakfast, and a half-hour later 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" hanging 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 shows no movement in and out of the cell from 7:34 to 9:07 a.m., she is discovered by a female officer after that time, which led to resuscitation procedures being performed on Bland's body. 

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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. 

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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. A toxicologist for the Tarrant County medical examiner's office agreed, indicating a THC level as high as Bland's suggests she "either had access to the drug in jail or she was a consistent user of the drug and her body had accumulated THC to the point that it was slowly releasing it over time." But he added: "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." 

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The FBI and DPS announced on July 16 that they had launched an investigation into Bland's death. Encinia was placed on administrative duties for violating procedures for traffic stops and was terminated by DPS following his indictment on perjury charges. 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. 

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On June 28, 2017, a judge granted a motion by prosecutors to dismiss the perjury charge against Encinia. In return, Encinia agreed that he would "never seek, accept or engage in employment in any capacity with law enforcement" in Texas or elsewhere. He also agreed not to seek expungement of the perjury charge. 

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Bland's family filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit, and a jury trial in that case was scheduled for January 2017. The family sought unspecified damages from DPS, Encinia, Waller County, and two jailers. In September 2016, Bland's family settled the lawsuit for $1.9 million, according to her mother. Details remained to be worked out and the agreement still awaited court approval. 

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What can we do?

1. Contact Waller County D.A. Elton Mathis Phone

979-826-7718 

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2.Contact Texas Mayor Matthew T. Doyle

(409) 643-5901 

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3. Sign this petition to reopen Sandra Bland’s case:

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4. Sign here for justice for Sandra Bland:

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