Sandra Bland

People

Sandra Bland

Outcome

unknown

On July 10, 2015, Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Black woman from Illinois, was pulled over by Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia for failing to signal a lane change near Prairie View A&M University—her alma mater, where she was due to start a new job as a community outreach coordinator on August 3. Three days later, on July 13, 2015, Bland was found dead in her Waller County jail cell. Her death was ruled a suicide by hanging, but the circumstances of her arrest and detention sparked national outrage and became a rallying point for the #SayHerName movement highlighting police violence against Black women. The traffic stop, captured on dashcam video, a bystander's cell phone, and Bland's own cell phone, showed the encounter rapidly escalating. When Bland refused Encinia's order to put out her cigarette, he demanded she exit her vehicle. When she questioned why, Encinia opened her car door, brandished his Taser, and said, "I will light you up!" Bland was forcibly removed from the car, and Encinia later claimed she kicked him during the arrest. She was charged with assaulting a police officer and taken to Waller County Jail with bail set at $5,000. During her intake interview, Bland disclosed that she had previously attempted suicide following the loss of a baby the year before. On the morning of July 13, after declining breakfast at 6:30 a.m., Bland requested to make a phone call from her cell but did not complete one. Around 9:00 a.m., jailers found her hanging in her cell, having allegedly fashioned a noose from a plastic trash bag liner. An autopsy found her death consistent with suicide, with no defensive injuries on her hands. However, questions about jail protocol violations and the rapid escalation of the traffic stop fueled widespread skepticism and protests. On December 21, 2015, a grand jury declined to indict anyone for Bland's death. However, on January 7, 2016, Trooper Encinia was indicted on a perjury charge for falsifying his report about the arrest and was subsequently fired by the Texas Department of Public Safety. The perjury charge was later dropped in June 2017 in exchange for Encinia permanently surrendering his law enforcement license. In September 2016, Bland's family settled a wrongful death lawsuit for $1.9 million, with the agreement including jail reforms and de-escalation training requirements. In 2017, the Texas legislature passed Senate Bill 1849, known as the Sandra Bland Act, which mandated racial profiling and de-escalation training for police officers and created new procedures for county jails regarding inmates with mental health or substance abuse issues.