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 The family of Sandra Bland filed a wrongful death lawsuit in
August against a Texas trooper, a sheriff’s office and Bland's
jailers, accusing them of being responsible for her apparent suicide
in a county jail.
In a motion filed for summary judgment this week, lawyers
representing Waller County and two jail guards said Bland was
allowed to make several phone calls to relatives and she could have
been released from jail on a bond of $515.
"It is apparent now that Bland’s inability to secure her release
from jail, and her family and friends' refusal to bail her out of
jail, led her to commit suicide,” lawyers for the county said in
court documents.
An attorney for Bland’s family was not available for comment.
Her death fueled criticism over the treatment of black men and women
by police in the United States.
Bland, 28, was pulled over in her car on July 10 by a white state
trooper, Brian Encinia, for failing to signal a lane change in
Prairie View, about 50 miles northwest of Houston.
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The stop escalated into a verbal altercation after Encinia asked
Bland to put out a cigarette and she refused. Bland was charged with
assaulting an officer, a felony. The Texas Department of Public
Safety has said the trooper acted improperly.
Bland was found hanged in her jail cell three days after her arrest.
Local officials have said she was not mistreated.The wrongful death
lawsuit, filed in federal court in Texas, said officials violated
Bland's constitutional rights. The family said it was seeking
financial damages, but court papers did not specify an amount.
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz)
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