According to ABC 13, Sandra Bland’s family reached a $1.9 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit on Thursday morning (Sept. 14). The Waller County jail will pay $1.8 million while the Texas Department of Public Safety will pay $100,000.
On July 10, 2015, Bland was pulled over by state trooper Brian Encinia for reportedly neglecting to signal while changing lanes. She was then transported to Waller County jail where she was pronounced dead within the jail cell two days later. A medical examiner determined that Bland’s death was “a suicide caused by asphyxiation.”
No one was indicted in Bland’s passing, but Encinia was fired in March 2016. Reports also surfaced that Rafael Zuniga, a former Waller County jail guard, admitted to forging jail records, and neglected to check on Bland an hour before her death.
Prior to that revelation, a Prairie View, Texas police officer, Michael Kelley, claimed that prosecutors threatened him if he shed light on any prohibited actions done by Encinia to Bland.
Kelley stated that he wanted to admit to a grand jury that, “Bland appeared to have marks on her forehead after a confrontation with state trooper Brian Encinia, who pulled her over last July for allegedly failing to signal while changing a lane; Encinia was on the phone with a supervisor after arresting her because he didn’t know what charge she should face; and the police report Encinia ultimately submitted left out key details.”