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Prosecutor: 'No sign of homicide' in Sandra Bland autopsy

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[h=4]Prosecutor: 'No sign of homicide' in Sandra Bland autopsy[/h]HEMPSTEAD, Texas<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— A Waller County prosecutor said Thursday that details of an autopsy of Sandra Bland, who was found dead in her jail cell, show no sign of homicide.

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Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis said there might need to be additional testing needed. KHOU


A booking questionnaire form the Waller County Sheriff's Office shows that Sandra Bland attempted suicide in either 2013 or 2014.(Photo: KHOU-TV, Houston)


HEMPSTEAD, Texas<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— A Waller County prosecutor said Thursday that details of an autopsy of Sandra Bland, who was found dead in her jail cell, show<span style="color: Red;">*</span>no evidence of a violent struggle or homicide.
Warren Diepraam also said that the autopsy showed that Bland<span style="color: Red;">*</span>had ingested a large amount of marijuana, but that it was not clear how much or when.
The autopsy was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>conducted<span style="color: Red;">*</span>by the Harris County Medical Examiner's Office after the 28-year-old black woman was found July 13 hanging by a trash bag. She had been jailed after being stopped by a Texas Highway Patrol trooper for allegedly failing to signal a lane change.
Diepraam, in a meeting with<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reporters, said the<span style="color: Red;">*</span>autopsy details, such as<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the state of<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Bland's hands, eyes, mouth and neck, showed no indication that she had<span style="color: Red;">*</span>engaged in a violent struggle.
"At this particular time, I have not seen any evidence that this is a homicide," Diepraam said.
Earlier, District Attorney Elton Mathis said that the autopsy was not<span style="color: Red;">*</span>flawed but that additional testing might be needed to determine exactly what happened to Sandra Bland in her jail cell.
"The he autopsy was actually very revealing and helpful," he said. The medical examiner ruled Bland's death a suicide by hanging; Bland's body has been transported to the Chicago area for her eventual funeral.
But questions, both from county officials and Bland's family in the Chicago area, remain. Bland's family has said she was eager to start a new job at nearby Prairie View A&M University, about 50 miles northwest of Houston, and was not suicidal.
USA TODAY
Officials: Bland told jailers of earlier suicide try




Her death comes after nearly a year of heightened national scrutiny of police and their dealings with black suspects, especially those who have been killed by officers or die in police custody.
Bland had been in jail for three days in the county of fewer than 50,000 residents. Her sister<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Shante Needham said the family was trying to put together bail money when they learned of Bland's death, according to the family's lawyer,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Cannon Lambert.
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Sandra Bland, 28, of Naperville, Ill., was arrested July 10, 2015, after a traffic stop and found dead in her jail cell three days later<span style="color: Red;">*</span>(Photo: Courtesy of Ashley Anderson)

The Naperville, Ill., native had been arrested July 10 and charged with assaulting a public servant following a<span style="color: Red;">*</span>confrontation with a white officer who had stopped her for failing to signal a lane change. Bland became combative after Trooper<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Brian Encinia ordered her to put out her cigarette and get out of her car.
"It's a point of almost no return where you know you have a minor infraction and the motorist is not complying," said C.O. "Brad" Bradford, a Houston city councilman and former Houston police chief. "You have to make a decision: Are you going to escalate or de-escalate the situation?"
Neither appear to have thought about calming down the encounter, he said after watching the dashboard-camera video of the traffic stop that was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>released earlier this week.
"I thought her questions were reasonable questions, most of them, given the context of the stop," Bradford said. "But at the same time, there's a duty to comply with the officer's instructions in the field."
Threatening a motorist with a Taser is not Houston police policy and appears to be a sign that the officer lost his composure, he said.
After Bland finally steps out of the vehicle, Encinia<span style="color: Red;">*</span>orders her to the side of the road, where the confrontation continues off-camera but is still audible. The officer said in an arrest affidavit that she swung her elbows at him and kicked his shin after being handcuffed.
USA TODAY
Dash-cam video shows arrest of Sandra Bland




Bland can be heard protesting her arrest, repeatedly using expletives and calling the officer a “pussy.” She screamed that the officer was<span style="color: Red;">*</span>about to break her wrists and complained that he knocked her head into the ground.
Anyone being stopped —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>even if the person believes he or she is being wronged —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>should save the fighting for later, raising questions the next day or next week and asking for redress, said Bradford, who is black.
"I'm still just at a loss for words, honestly, at this whole process,” Bland said in a voicemail to<span style="color: Red;">*</span>friend LaVaughn Mosley shortly after her arrest.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>“How did switching lanes with no signal turn into all of this?”
USA TODAY
Family of woman found dead in jail orders new autopsy




Booking papers released Wednesday by the Waller County Sheriff's Office show that when Bland was admitted to jail<span style="color: Red;">*</span>she told a guard she previously tried to kill herself. It was listed as the answer to a series of questions asked each person booked into the county jail here.
Bland said she had tried to kill herself with pills in 2014 after she lost a baby. On a separate area of the questionnaire, Bland said she never<span style="color: Red;">*</span>had<span style="color: Red;">*</span>been depressed.
State Sen. Royce West, a Democrat from Dallas who attended a Tuesday meeting with law enforcement and other officials to discuss questions surrounding Bland’s death, said the kind of information disclosed on Bland’s intake form should have prompted jail officials to place her on a suicide watch, meaning a face-to-face check on her welfare every 15 minutes instead of the hourly checks normally required.
Bland told a second corrections officer that she was upset about her arrest,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>but both jail officials said that Bland did not appear suicidal or mentally ill.
USA TODAY
Sandra Bland death triggers #IfIDieInPoliceCustody trend




She also told officials that she suffered from epilepsy and was taking the drug Keppra to prevent seizures. Keppra side effects can include suicidal thoughts, depression and anxiety, and stopping a seizure medication without tapering off can cause seizures that will not stop, according to UCB Inc., a Brussels-based pharmaceutical company that manufactures the drug.
Bland's family said Wednesday that she had no history of depression, but Bland herself said she struggled with depression and post-traumatic distress syndrome in a video posted a few years ago.
Encinia, who has been a trooper for little more than<span style="color: Red;">*</span>a year, has been placed on desk duty for violating unspecified police procedures and the Texas Department of Public Safety’s courtesy policy.
Contributing: Adam Bennett, KHOU-TV, Houston; The Associated Press
Facebook
Sandra Bland - Sandra Bland's Photos | Facebook




At least two groups on Facebook are using this photo as the profile picture for pages in support of Sandra Bland. (Photo: Facebook)
Related:
USA TODAY
Graphic: Your rights during police encounters




USA TODAY
Texas: Trooper in traffic stop violated policy




USA TODAY
Family: Jailed woman wouldn't have committed suicide




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TEXAS WOMAN SANDRA BLAND DIES IN POLICE CUSTODYJail video released from morning of Sandra Bland's death | 01:44Surveillance video from inside the Waller County, Texas jail where Sandra Bland was found hanging in her cell offers more information about what happened the morning she was found dead. VPC




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TEXAS WOMAN SANDRA BLAND DIES IN POLICE CUSTODYNew dashcam video details Sandra Bland's arrest | 04:09Texas authorities have released the dashcam video of Sandra Bland's arrest during a traffic stop on July 10. Bland was later found dead in her jail cell.




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TEXAS WOMAN SANDRA BLAND DIES IN POLICE CUSTODYVideo Released From Jail In Sandra Bland Case | 00:52Authorities in Texas have released a video covering the three hours before Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell. (July 20) AP




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TEXAS WOMAN SANDRA BLAND DIES IN POLICE CUSTODYDeath of inmate Sandra Bland won't be 'swept under rug' | 01:31The Texas Department of Public Safety announced that the trooper who pulled over, and later arrested, Sandra Bland violated procedures. Bland was later found hanging in her jail cell. VPC




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TEXAS WOMAN SANDRA BLAND DIES IN POLICE CUSTODYProtesters Question Woman's Death in Texas Jail | 01:55Those who knew Sandra Bland said she would not have killed herself inside a Texas jail cell, not even over the traffic stop that led to her arrest, which mirrored the ones she railed against online. (July 18) AP




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TEXAS WOMAN SANDRA BLAND DIES IN POLICE CUSTODYFBI investigates hanging death of woman inside jail | 01:27The FBI is investigating the death of Sandra Bland. She was arrested in Waller County, Texas after a routine traffic stop but was found hanging in her jail cell days later. VPC





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