July 21--REPORTING FROM HEMPSTEAD, Texas -- Officials called Monday for a thorough investigation into the death of Sandra Bland, whose body was found in her Texas cell a week ago, and released three hours of videotape of the jail corridor.
The camera was motion-operated, officials said, and there was no movement in the hallway for more than 90 minutes before Bland, 28, was found dead.
A second video taken from the camera on the dashboard of the police car involved in Bland's arrest is expected to be released Tuesday, Waller County Dist. Atty. Elton Mathis said.
"This investigation is still being treated like a murder investigation," Mathis told reporters. "There are many questions being raised in Waller County, the state of Texas, the country and around the world. It needs a thorough review. It will go to a grand jury."
Bland was found dead in her cell on July 13, after she was arrested during a traffic stop the previous Friday. Capt. Brian Cantrell of the Waller County Sheriff's Department told reporters that Bland was found with her feet on the ground, though the death had been described earlier as a hanging.
Bland died "as a result of self-inflicted asphyxiation" from a plastic garbage bag used by the jail for trash collection. "Her feet were on the ground," he said.
"She could not breathe. That can happen whether standing or sitting down," Cantrell said.
"The death of Miss Bland was a tragic incident, not one of criminal intent or a criminal act," he said.
Mathis said the dashboard video shows a very combative Bland. "It was not a model traffic stop and it was not a model person that was stopped," he said.
Under questioning from reporters, Mathis said Bland did not comply with an officer's directions.
Reactions on Twitter were overwhelmingly skeptical to the official account.
Many focused on the conduct of the officer who stopped her, asking why Bland had been ordered to get out of her car while smoking a cigarette. Others demanded that all footage be publicly released: the dash cam video, internal jail footage, audio of her last phone call -- any data possible, as they did not trust the media to sift through it for them.
Bland's death is the latest in a series of cases involving authorities and deadly confrontations with African Americans, including Eric Garner on Staten Island, N.Y., and Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., in 2014, and Walter Scott in North Carolina and Freddie Gray in Baltimore, both in April.
Tensions have been building in recent days as protests increased and social media became inflamed by the case.
Earlier Monday, a coalition of civil rights activists called for an independent investigation.
"This is not a race war. This is a war on black lives," said the Rev. Hannah Bonner, pastor of justice ministries at St. John's United Methodist Church in Houston, a white minister who has been holding a vigil outside the sheriff's office since Bland's death. The group of about two dozen clergy and other supporters called for the Justice Department to investigate the death.
Activists questioned the validity of the video, saying it could be altered and time stamps changed.
"This was not a suicide. This behind me was murder. All of America knows something is rotten," said the Rev. Jamal Bryant, speaking at news conference in front of the Waller County Sheriff's Department and jail.
Bland was a frequent activist on social media. She prepared and posted more than two dozen videos on Facebook, many dealing with the deaths of blacks at the hands of police.
"We're doing as much as we can," she said in April. "And we can't help but get pissed off when we see situations where it's clear that the black life doesn't matter. Show me in American history where all lives have mattered. Show me liberty and justice for all like that -- Pledge of Allegiance we love to say."
Bland was stopped July 10 for a traffic violation in Waller County, about an hour from Houston. Bland, of Naperville, Ill., was in the area to interview for a job at Prairie View A University, a historically black college from which she was graduated in 2009.
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, Bland failed to signal that she was changing lanes and a trooper pulled her over. The trooper was going to give her a written warning but Bland became argumentative and uncooperative, officials say.
Officials have said Bland kicked the officer. A video shot by a passerby purports to show the arrest and the trooper restraining Bland on the ground. He then brings her to the police vehicle.
Bland was taken into custody for assault on a public servant, officials said. An emergency medical services unit responded, but Bland refused a medical review and was taken to the county jail, according to the Department of Public Safety.
Her body was found July 13.
"Her manner of death is classified as suicide," Tricia Bentley, spokeswoman for Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, which handled the autopsy, told the Los Angeles Times on Monday. "The cause of death is hanging."
The trooper, who has not been named, has been placed on administrative duty pending an investigation, officials said.
"In the preliminary review of the traffic stop that occurred in Prairie View on July 10, 2015, involving Sandra Bland, we have identified violations of the department's procedures regarding traffic stops and the department's courtesy policy," the department said last week in a statement.
Bland's family disputes the finding and has hired its own forensics experts to conduct a separate autopsy. The result is expected this week.
Family members and friends insist Bland was looking forward to a new job at her former school and that she gave no indication she would kill herself.
In a widely reported video posted to her Facebook page, Bland said she was suffering from "a little bit of depression, as well as PTSD," or post-traumatic stress disorder. Friend and mentor LaVaughn Mosley of Prairie View has told reporters that he believes Bland was just venting after a bad day.
The activists question all of the official statements.
Bryant, the clergy member, alleged that the trooper who stopped Bland had been assigned to desk duty at the time and was not supposed to be patrolling. At the afternoon news conference, Mathis denied that statement.
Bryant said he and others had been briefed by the Bland family's attorney Monday morning. He said they were shown the dashboard video, where the trooper questioned Bland about why she was smoking in her car. Bland defended her right to smoke cigarettes.
He said Bland also can be seen in the video filming the trooper with her cellphone.
Bryant called on U.S. Atty. Gen. Loretta Lynch to start an independent investigation and "take this out of the hands of the police."
Bland's body was expected to be released Monday and the family plans to have an independent expert perform a second autopsy, according to the Rev. David Madison of Greater Ward AME Church in Houston and president of the AME Ministers Alliance.
Madison said Bland's body would be taken back to Illinois for a funeral, which had yet to be scheduled. A memorial is planned at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Prairie View A University.
Bland's supporters toted signs outside the jail Monday that featured quotes from her videos, pictures of Bland and lingering questions, including: "What happened to Sandra Bland?" and "They stopped her for what?"
Residents not far from College Station, the even larger town that's home to Texas A, complained of police profiling.
"As far as I'm concerned, we have a murderer in there with a badge," said Joy Harris, 62, a registered nurse from College Station carrying a sign and wearing a neon orange shirt that said, "Sandra Bland was murdered."
"Police officers should know what the law is and abide by that. People shouldn't lose their lives over this," said Harris, who is African American.
The main thoroughfare in Hempstead is like many small towns in Texas, with a cluster of beauty salons and restaurants, a Wal-Mart, feed store, farmers market, Brookshire Brothers grocery store.
"There's no racial tension here," said Luther Jones as he played dominoes with three other African American residents at Bragg's Hollywood Palace barbecue on the city's main street.
Jones, 47, is self-employed, grew up here and said his main question is not how Bland died at the jail but why the trooper stopped her.
"We don't really hear much about abuse at the jail. If something was going on over there, we would know," Jones said, adding, "The district attorney, I believe he'll find out what's going on."
Jimmy Economou, 50, also grew up in Hempstead and was less trusting of local authorities.
"We might be a small town, Hempstead, but we're on the map -- there have been problems before" at the jail, Economou, who is unemployed, said as he stood outside the courthouse ahead of a briefing by local authorities.
He was glad to hear the FBI and Texas Rangers are investigating.
"If anybody did anything, they're going to find it. They'll get to the bottom of it. Local authorities won't," Economou said.
Many residents were following developments in the case, hoping to learn more about Bland and how law enforcement handled the case.
"Strength and honor lies more in tolerance," said James Swader, a retired air conditioning contractor and evangelical minister as he headed to Wal-Mart. "At the same time, I can understand an officer's attitude toward resistance."
"I don't believe they intentionally did her wrong," said Swader, who lives north of town. "A lot of times suspicions can be aroused by people coming in from outside. I think this is something that should be addressed in the community."
Hennessy-Fiske reported from Texas and Muskal from Los Angeles. Staff writer Dexter Thomas in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
UPDATES
4:37 p.m.: The story was updated with details from a news conference and the release of a video.
2:15 p.m.: The story was updated with comments from residents.
The story was originally published at 1:49 p.m.
