Prosecutors in Texas called for a grand jury to review findings of an investigation into the death of a Naperville woman in a Texas jail after family members on Thursday questioned the ruling that she died by suicide.
The family of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Naperville woman found dead Monday, also called for calm as they pursue the facts and await an investigation, being done by the Texas Rangers with the FBI.
Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis" announcement that he will present the findings of the investigation into the matter to a grand jury came at a news conference in Hempstead, Texas. He was responding to a question about the importance to the investigation of recently discovered video of Bland describing depression and post-traumatic stress disorder that she experienced.
County officials have said Bland"s death was a suicide by hanging in her cell, but her family and friends have expressed skepticism at the finding.
Mathis said the importance of the video will be determined by the Waller County grand jury because he wanted the public to have the final say on this issue.
Family attorney Cannon Lambert said the death of the woman known among her four sisters as Sandy B should not be politicized as the family figures out what happened in the jail.
Blands older sister, Sharon Cooper, said her sister was outspoken, happy and passionate, and that suicide was unfathomable.
When you think through the circumstances that have been shared with us to this point, it is unimaginable and difficult for us to wrap our minds around, Cooper said.
While Lambert repeatedly emphasized that the family would not succumb to the swirl of accusations and instead wanted to gather facts, he also said after the news conference that the family thought that she was killed.
The family has been told many, many things, from a number of sources, Lambert said. As a consequence, the swirl of confusion is very easy to get swept up in.
Family members are traveling to Texas on Thursday or Friday and hope to meet with the Texas Rangers, Lambert said.
Bland, who previously lived in Aurora and Villa Park, was found dead in her cell at 9 a.m. Monday, of what appeared to be suicide by hanging, according to authorities.
Lambert said the family wants to meet with the lead investigator in the case and to drill down into the facts regarding the African-American womans death, which has been a contentious topic on social media in recent days.
When youre left not knowing what happened to people in these strange circumstances, the mindset that you have is that you seek understanding, he said.
Bland had recently been offered a job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University, family said.
Bland was arrested Friday afternoon in the county, northwest of Houston, after failing to signal a lane change, according to Trooper Erik Burse, a Department of Public Safety spokesman. She was about to be let off with a written warning when she kicked the officer outside her car and was taken into custody, he said. Law enforcement officials said she declined medical treatment offered at the scene.
Sheriff Glenn Smith said she was charged with assault of a public servant and was arraigned over the weekend, when her bond was set at $5,000. A female jailer found her about 9 a.m. Monday, Smith said. Paramedics were called and CPR was administered, he said, but she was pronounced dead shortly afterward.
We understand that she was stopped, Cooper said. We understand that she felt that she was handled very harshly. That she was handled in a way that was overzealous from her perspective.
The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences in Houston performed an autopsy on Blands body Tuesday, with the death ruled a suicide by hanging, according to Tricia Bentley, an institute spokeswoman.
Shante Needham, another sister of Blands, said she talked to her Saturday afternoon.
I told her that I would work on getting her out, Needham said, her voice cracking.
Mathis said it was typical protocol for the Texas Rangers, the investigative arm of Texas Public Safety Department, to be called in to investigate. The process could take a few weeks or a few months, Burse said.
Posts featuring #JusticeForSandy and #WhatHappenedToSandyBland trended on Facebook and Twitter in recent days, questioning the official account of the womans death. Blands Facebook page featured a post from Thursday with #WallerCountyLine.
If I receive information that theres something nefarious going on, or foul play, we will certainly get to the bottom of that, Mathis said. I understand there"s some disbelief among some friends and family that she would do this to herself. Thats why its very important that the Texas Rangers be allowed to conduct a thorough investigation.
A video circulating on YouTube purports to be the police stop of Bland. The familys attorney said Thursday they were in touch with the creator of the video but would not reveal that persons name.
We have little reason to believe its not her, Lambert said of the video. We have every reason to believe that it was.
In the video, a woman can be seen held on the ground by two state troopers and can be heard criticizing them for the arrest.
This is real good. Real good for a female. Yall strong, yall real strong, the woman can be heard saying.
Then, a trooper tells a bystander, who is recording the stop, that the person needed to leave. The bystander appears to keep recording, and the woman complains of being treated too roughly for what she says was a traffic stop.
Really? Really? she says. I just drove down to this m-----------. Yall so full of s---. I swear to G*d yall are so full of s---.
I cant even feel my arm. You just slammed my head into the ground, you do not care about that. I cant even hear. He slammed my f------ head into the ground. All of this for a traffic signal. I swear to G*d, all of this for a traffic signal.
As a trooper pulls her to her feet and places her in the back of the police car, she yells to the bystander recording.
Thank you for recording. Thank you. For a traffic signal. Slammed me into the ground and everything.
The family also thanked the videographer who shot the footage.
I would advocate that any time that people see a situation that rises to a level of concern, that they video, Lambert said. Sandy herself said thank you.
Bland and her family have been members of the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle for about 18 years, the churchs pastor, the Rev. James Miller, said Thursday.
She was a commendable, active young adult, and she was a very spirited individual who was prayerful, Miller said. We were very encouraged with her being a young adult and active because most times its hard to get that population active.
The church will host a prayer walk and a petition signing at 10 a.m. Sunday as a public expression of unity and a desire for justice, Miller posted in a message on the churchs Facebook page. The petition will call for a comprehensive investigation regarding the circumstances surrounding her death.
Its quite a coincidence that these events keep happening, Miller said. I think that its evidence of an unresolved cultural issue of some kind that these young African-Americans keep suffering some form of violence.
In response to Blands death, the Houston chapter of the NAACP has launched its own investigation. The group plans to request an independent autopsy and request police records to determine how she died while in a jail cell with no shoestrings or a blanket, said James Douglas, president of the local chapter and a law professor at Thurgood Marshall School of Law.
It doesnt make sense that this young lady who appeared to be healthy would have reason to commit suicide, Douglas said. Supposedly she had some damage when she was thrown to the pavement. She may have suffered a concussion or internal brain damage. Thats what we want to make sure.
Bland graduated from Prairie View A&M in 2009 with a degree in agriculture, university spokeswoman Yolanda Bevill said. She was in the band at school and a member of Sigma Gamma Rho sorority.
Prairie View spokeswoman Candace Johnson confirmed that Bland was supposed to begin working as a summer program associate for the university cooperative extension Aug. 3. It was a temporary position scheduled to last through Aug. 31, Johnson said.
Bland recently left a job as a member of the administrative staff of Cooks, a food service equipment and supplies dealer headquartered on Diehl Road in Warrenville.
A graduate of Willowbrook High School in Villa Park, Bland ran track and played volleyball, was in the marching band and was a varsity cheerleader as well as a member of the Neo-Phi Steppers, a student-led dance troupe that performed at pep rallies and other functions. She also was a member of the schools World Languages Honor Society, which required students to have attained at least an A average, and also was one of a group of about a dozen Student Assistants who helped the school administrators communicate with the rest of the student body.
According to the Harris County clerks office in Houston, Bland was convicted of possession of marijuana in 2010, a misdemeanor. According to court documents, Bland was assessed a penalty of 30 days in the Harris County Jail and given four days of credit. She was charged court costs of $373.
Prior to 2014, her Illinois driver"s license had been suspended three times because she had no insurance, according to court records. In 2014, she was stopped on suspicion of DUI and was given supervision in Illinois. Records show her license was due to be suspended July 31 for lack of insurance.
Because of the history of racial hostility in Prairie View and Waller County, it is important to note that there is an atmosphere of distrust whether justified or not, said Presiding Judge Morris Overstreet of the Municipal Court who recently ran for district attorney of the county there and lost.
So when news spread about Bland being found dead, it raised suspicions among the black residents.
No one should be stopped for a simple traffic violation and end up dead, he said. As far as we know, all of this was started with a simple traffic stop. How did it escalate to this level? I want to know myself.
Ziezulewicz and Bird are Naperville Sun reporters; Bowean is a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. Sun reporters Maggie Angst and Suzanne Baker, Beacon-News reporter Sarah Freishtat, and Tribune reporters Matthew Walberg and Rosemary Regina Sobol contributed. The Associated Press also contributed.
Copyright 2015, Chicago TribuneSource: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/ct-sandra-bland-texas-jail-death-met-0717-20150717-story.html
