Family of jailed woman files lawsuit

Associated Press

HOUSTON

The family of a black woman found dead in a Texas jail three days after a confrontation with a white state trooper filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Tuesday against the officer and other officials, saying it was a last resort after being unable to get enough information about the case.

Sandra Bland, a Chicago-area woman, died by what authorities say was suicide in her Waller County jail cell July 13.

Her family and others previously questioned that and criticized the trooper who stopped her for failing to signal a lane change.

“The bottom line is, she never should have been inside the jail cell. Period,” Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, said at a news conference.

Reed-Veal, her Bible within reach, said she was confident Bland “knew enough about Jesus” that she wouldn’t hang herself, and her feelings as a mother say her daughter didn’t. But “anything is possible,” she said.

“Now I’m the first one to tell you, if the facts ... show without a doubt that that was the case, I’ll have to be prepared to deal with that,” she said.