Woman who died in cell admitted past suicide attempt
DALLAS — A woman whose death in a Texas jail has raised suspicions about the official conclusion that she hanged herself told a guard during the booking process that she had tried to kill herself in the past, the sheriff said Wednesday.
Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith said Sandra Bland told a jailer about the previous suicide attempt sometime after her arrest on July 10. Bland provided the information while being asked a series of questions posed to each person booked into the jail in Hempstead, about 100 kilometres northwest of Houston, the sheriff said.
He did not provide details about the conversation.
The lawyer representing Bland’s family, Cannon Lambert, said relatives have no evidence she ever attempted suicide or had been treated for depression.
The 28-year-old from the Chicago area said she was not depressed but was upset about her arrest, which occurred following a confrontation with a white officer who had stopped her for a minor traffic violation.
Smith said both jailers who spoke with Bland insisted that she appeared fine when being booked on a charge of assaulting a public servant.
Bland’s body was found three days later in her cell. She had hanged herself using a plastic liner taken from a garbage can.
Her family has said she was not despondent and was looking forward to starting a new job at Prairie View A&M University.
However, Bland posted a video to her Facebook page in March, saying she was suffering from “a little bit of depression as well as PTSD,” or post-traumatic stress disorder. One friend has said she was just venting after a bad day.
A video of the arrest taken from the officer’s dashcam shows him drawing a stun gun and threatening Bland when she refuses to follow his order to leave the car.
The trooper, who has been on the force for a year, has been put on administrative leave.