Jailhouse death highlights lax police practices

Associated Press

AUSTIN, Texas

A Texas grand jury that declined to indict anyone over the jailhouse death of Sandra Bland still could charge the trooper who shouted “I will light you up!” during a traffic stop resulting in her arrest, a move that would focus attention on a state police force experts say has lagged behind widely accepted U.S. law-enforcement practices to head off misconduct.

A grand jury on Monday decided that no felony crime was committed by sheriff’s officers or jailers in the death of the 28-year-old black woman from Chicago. Authorities say Bland hanged herself in jail with a plastic garbage bag three days after trooper Brian Encinia pulled her over for not signaling a lane change.

Encinia, who is white, has been on paid desk duty since the confrontation recorded on dashcam video heightened national concern about police treatment of African-Americans. Critics including Bland’s family wondered why a routine traffic stop escalated into an altercation that led to Encinia brandishing a stun gun and making the threat to light her up.

The stop also has invited scrutiny of the Texas Department of Public Safety that oversees state police. Records obtained by The Associated Press show at least six formal complaints have been found valid since the beginning of 2012 against members of the nearly 4,000-strong force for violating traffic-stop procedures – the kind of incidents like the one involving Encinia and Bland. Two troopers received written reprimands, and the others received suspensions ranging from 1 to 30 days without pay.

But the department cannot put a number on informal accusations raised against troopers – such as rudeness or attitude – in which citizens don’t sign their names to affidavits that trigger formal investigations.