Sister: Weakened 'Sandra Bland Act' in Texas 'gut-wrenching'

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press


Paul J. Weber, Associated Press

Updated 3:04 am, Saturday, May 13, 2017


AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — The sister of Sandra Bland, a black woman found dead in a Texas jail following a confrontational traffic stop with a white state trooper, says it is "gut-wrenching" that lawmakers stripped police reforms from a bill named after her sibling and are now pushing a weakened compromise that "painfully misses the mark."

Bland's death in 2015 was a national flashpoint in the Black Lives Matter movement — the 28-year-old Chicago woman was stopped near Houston for not signaling a lane change, forcibly pulled from her car and found dead in jail days later.

A leaner "Sandra Bland Act" enters the home stretch of the Texas Legislature far from the sweeping package of police accountability and anti-racial profiling measures originally filed in March. In the face of opposition from law enforcement groups and Republicans, the bill was drastically slimmed down and now mostly focuses on better jail trailing and mental health care access.
 
"What the bill does in its current state renders Sandy invisible," said Sharon Cooper, Bland's older sister, in an interview with The Associated Press on Friday night. "It's frustrating and gut-wrenching."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Sister-Weakened-Sandra-Bland-Act-in-Texas-11143464.php

[cstanleytech]

1. At least some parts survived but still its time like this that make me shake my head in wonder over

how the Republicans have shifted their party into a true Repugnant party.

[Nitram]

2. True, stan.

They've jumped the shark. Yet Americans still vote for them.

[Honeycombe8]

3. It does require some de-escalation training, as well as mental health provisions.

At least it's something and should make jailers at least stop to consider the mental health of people being jailed, esp considering it's a Republican legislature.

This guy was a bad egg. You can't legislate that away, anyway. A bad egg doesn't follow rules.

Hopefully more Democratic leaning people will vote at the mid-terms.

[iluvtennis]

5. Agree..consider it a baby step to build upon and Dem folks can extend it later

[mwooldri]

4. Republicans Against Protecting Americans.

Colour me surprised.

[Sunlei]

6. was so sad the autopsy report. Sandra had a wound on her back. 6 days after she was slammed

6 days after she was slammed to the ground by the Pig, the wound still had leaf embedded in it. No one even treated her physical wounds. Police use arrest & jail as punishment.

[Sunlei]

7. Sandra Bland

[furtheradu]

8. KICK for more exposure.

Truly "gut-wrenching and frustrating".
For Sandra & her Family