DALLAS (AP) — An attorney for the family of a black woman found dead in a Texas county jail three days after a confrontation with a white state trooper says a lawsuit will be filed against the trooper.
Attorney Cannon Lambert says Sandra Bland’s family plans to file the federal lawsuit Tuesday in Houston. He says it will name Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Brian Encinia and others.
Officials say the 28-year-old Bland hanged herself in her cell on July 13.
She was in Prairie View, 50 miles northwest of Houston, for a job interview July 10 when she was stopped for a minor traffic infraction. Her exchange with Encinia escalated, who handcuffed her and pinned her to the ground.
Her family says was looking forward to a new job and wouldn’t take her own life.
Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
So now they want money? Well, I guess they found an ambulance-chaser lawyer who wants to get rich, too, off the senseless death of that poor young woman, no matter how she died. True: She never should have been taken into custody for her actions, not placed in a jail cell, should have been given an emergency mental health evaluation if, indeed, she actually “assaulted an officer” in the course of her being placed in handcuffs or otherwise subdued. She never should have been left in a cell for a minute alone if she was indeed agitated. There is blatant police misconduct throughout this entire incident. So a financial penalty to the law enforcement agency is definitely warranted. But we all pay for that financial reward, and I want more to come out of any tax dollars spent for such a fine.
I agree, the family is due proper recompense through a lawsuit. But a better outcome of such a lawsuit should be proper training for apprehension/arrest and detainment/evaluation of anyone accused of such a minor traffic infraction who might react in a panic mode. The family is due an explanation of the events, some accounting for improper handling of this incident from the first moment on. But more needs to happen to benefit anyone so-accused of such minor traffic violations from this point forward.
I hope the family will address that as well.
Is that her family’s job, or local, state, and federal governments’?
I didn’t say it’s the family’s “job”, but I am hopeful that they will address the issue. Asking for money from the family and their lawyer for the tragic death of their loved-one is not really good optics, you know.
I know. Optics aren’t everything. Most people are blind.
Think McDonald’s coffee causing 3rd degree burns.