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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Black Woman Named Sandra Bland Got Pulled Over in Texas and Died in Jail Three Days Later. Why?
A troubling story posted Wednesday night by an ABC affiliate in Chicago is picking up momentum online Thursday: the case of Sandra Bland, a black woman from Naperville, Illinois, who was stopped by police in Waller County, Texas, for making an improper lane change last Friday and ended up dead in jail on Monday morning. Police say Blandwho was in the area for a job interview at her alma mater, Texas Prairie View A&Mwas arrested for assault on a public servant and appears to have committed suicide. But a friend told ABC those who knew Bland are 100 percent in belief that she did not do harm to herself.
See the video of the arrest at the link.
Waller County Sheriff's officials told ABC that Bland was combative after officers stopped her for improperly signaling a lane change (!); a department statement says she was found dead at 9 a.m. Monday (July 13) of what appears to be self-inflicted asphyxiation. It's not clear why Bland was still in custody a full three days after being arrested. (Update, 1:55 p.m.: News reports from the time say that Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith was fired from a previous job in 2008 after he and members of his department were accused of racial bias and brutality.)
A Waller County prosecutor told ABC he does not have any information that would make me think Bland's death was anything other than just a suicide.
While Waller County is predominately white, Prairie View A&M is a historically black college whose students, as BuzzFeed's Joel Anderson notes, have staged large-scale protests a number of times in recent years during conflicts with local officials over voting-related issues.
Source.
still_one
(92,433 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)still_one
(92,433 posts)OldEurope
(1,273 posts)Nowadays you are able to learn about such incidents. Worldwide.
Twenty years ago, you had never heard about such incidents in an other town or an other state. Now you can see what's going on all over. And also, everyone can record the evil and spread it. I think that is a reason for hope inspite of Fox News and others spewing hate.
randys1
(16,286 posts)over for
Then all we know is 3 days later she is dead, the video shows nothing
Why in the FUCK was she still in jail 3 days later?
Was she dead for two of those days?
Why did they have to murder her?
Walk away
(9,494 posts)Maybe they just didn't give a shit about how harshly they treated her because she "looked" like a criminal to them. It is horrific to be killed because your life just doesn't matter. That's what it's like in a war zone.
Igel
(35,362 posts)I suspect that if you assault a police officer--and that was the reason for taking her to jail in the first place, not something added after the fact--it's more serious than just a moving violation. Instead of a ticket, you may have to be arraigned and/or post bail. Waller County's population is perhaps 50,000. 84 people per square mile (that surprises me, I've driven in Waller County and ... Lots of fields, not many people.)
Did she kick the police officer? Don't know. The videos I've seen all start a few minutes after that would have happened. When I was a 15-year-old kid I was told, as part of driver's ed, that if I'm pulled over for any reason to stay in the car, door closed, engine off, hands on the steering wheel, the radio off and with the window rolled down. And to follow instructions--let the judge sort it out if I think I'm pulled over unjustly, because arguing with anybody just makes them angry and you angrier.
An hour before she was found dead, an officer (a woman officer, IIRC), went to ask if she wanted "recreation"--which I take to mean allowed out to walk or exercise.
"Why did they have to murder her?" is in the "Do you still beat your wife?" category, with a presupposition that can't be simply denied.
uponit7771
(90,367 posts)..bastard murder isn't out of the question.
She was also complaining about her ear bleeding ... sounds like a brain injury were they let her brain swell up and she died
MADem
(135,425 posts)randys1
(16,286 posts)not sighing to the OP, sighing to yet another example of insanity and white privilege
etherealtruth
(22,165 posts)Sadly, this and others are routine in the USA
Reter
(2,188 posts)hifiguy
(33,688 posts)to the equation and nothing good will come of it.
Starry Messenger
(32,342 posts)Unspeakable.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Right. She was gonna post $500 bail, then ....changed her mind and just all of a sudden decided to kill herself.
To say this story stinks to high heaven is a massive understatement.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Hopefully someone gets to the bottom of this.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)There is a petition to the DOJ to take over the investigation.
https://www.change.org/p/the-united-states-department-of-justice-attorney-general-loretta-lynch-take-over-the-investigation-into-the-death-of-sandra-bland-from-the-waller-county-texas-police-department
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)BlueIndyBlue
(96 posts)lostnfound
(16,192 posts)Chemisse
(30,817 posts)artislife
(9,497 posts)Targeted.
We are so far away from grace.
tosh
(4,424 posts)historylovr
(1,557 posts)Let's hope something will come of this if the DOJ does investigate.
uponit7771
(90,367 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)" Update, 1:55 p.m.: News reports from the time say that Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith was fired from a previous job in 2008 after he and members of his department were accused of racial bias and brutality.)"
How much more obvious then wearing bedsheets does this have to get?
She was murdered.
But oh well...DA says don't see nothing at all.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)Well shit nothing there come on now Warren! Wow...just...what can be said, will someone step up and make a change is the question.
That jail has a strange habit of making perfectly innocent people hang themsleves...but hey, nothing to snoop around looking for...might get the hounds sent after you anyways.
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)So fucked.
Liberal_in_LA
(44,397 posts)restorefreedom
(12,655 posts)if it was "self inflicted," the autopsy will bear that out.
as it will the evidence of her likely murder
arely staircase
(12,482 posts)Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Hopefully more people sign the petition up thread.
sheshe2
(83,940 posts)You think that you have hardened yourself to these cases. Then the next one comes along and hits you in the gut and you are right back where you started. You are in despair.
Agschmid
(28,749 posts)Horrifying, I can't imagine the feelings and emotions the family of the victim are facing.
sheshe2
(83,940 posts)Uncle Joe
(58,445 posts)Thanks for the thread, Agschimid.
Catherine Vincent
(34,491 posts)It doesn't make sense.
ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)What the hell happened??
That poor woman
ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)Warpy
(111,367 posts)"You need to leave."
Any cop yells this at somebody with a video rolling, you know he's dirty.
Damn right the DOJ needs to investigate this one. Waller County? Joke.
Chemisse
(30,817 posts)A young woman, just starting out in life, a bright future ahead of her, harassed and killed for no reason, by the very people who are paid to protect ALL members of the public.
If she died due to a head injury, autopsy results will show that. Hopefully the body isn't 'accidentally' cremated.
sheshe2
(83,940 posts)These cases stink to high heaven. The police are getting away with murder.
JEB
(4,748 posts)Rex
(65,616 posts)" Update, 1:55 p.m.: News reports from the time say that Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith was fired from a previous job in 2008 after he and members of his department were accused of racial bias and brutality.)"
Murder by cop, something becoming common place and evidently accepted.
enigmatic
(15,021 posts)By the Police. No doubt in my mind.
ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)We've seen it happen before. There really are no words for the revulsion I feel.
ailsagirl
(22,899 posts)Mira
(22,380 posts)what's the email to "send it to Rachel.com"
Catherine Vincent
(34,491 posts)And depression? I wonder if she needed medication. But no matter the findings, it's still sad.
arikara
(5,562 posts)I signed, and kick for more sigs.
Humanist_Activist
(7,670 posts)have civilian review boards, and I would even say have civil rights commissars in police stations and jails, wherever they handle and transport prisoners. They can be appointed from local ACLU and/or NAACP legal members, think similarly to voting observers, that are outside of the chain of command, and whose sole purpose is wide discretionary power in reporting, to whatever authorities they deem necessary, the conditions and treatment of inmates in jails.
Even if this were a suicide, and I don't believe that for a minute, this Sheriff's office was grossly negligent in making sure a person in their custody doesn't come to harm. I cannot believe a fucking prosecutor called it "just a suicide", that fucker needs to be removed from office and disbarred.