Dec. 22--The family of Sandra Bland, a Naperville woman whose death in jail drew national protests, said Monday they do not believe her case is being thoroughly investigated by the Texas Rangers or properly presented to a grand jury by special prosecutors.
"Right now the biggest problem I have is the entire process," said Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, surrounded by her four daughters. "It's the secrecy of it all."
Reed-Veal said prosecutors have not sought to interview Bland's relatives about her death last summer after a traffic stop in Waller County, west of Houston. She also complained that family members have not been made aware of any physical evidence being presented in court and have not been kept abreast of grand jury proceedings.
"I simply can't have faith in a system that's not inclusive of my family," Reed-Veal said at a news conference in Chicago. "We're supposed to have an investigation to show us what's happening. We know what we've been listening to in the media ... but we don't have any real evidence."
Bland, 28, was stopped July 10 for a minor traffic violation. Her encounter with a police trooper quickly escalated and she was taken into custody. Three days later, jailers said she used a plastic bag to hang herself in her cell. Her death was ruled a suicide.
Bland's confrontation with the trooper from the Texas Department of Public Safety was videotaped and helped fuel protests by groups such as Black Lives Matter and Say Her Name that have sought to bring attention to African-Americans killed by police.
The officer who stopped Bland has been placed on administrative duty for violating agency regulations during the stop. In addition, the Texas Commission on Jail Standards found that jailers made mistakes when they processed her.
Weeks after the death, authorities said they were presenting evidence to a grand jury to see whether criminal charges should be filed. On Monday, the Waller County district attorney's office would say only that the grand jury was convened. Officials would not say whether jurors were discussing the Bland case or when they expect a decision.
The family filed a wrongful death lawsuit in federal court seeking unspecified damages. The case has a trial date of Jan. 23, 2017. As part of the lawsuit, family attorneys have been requesting police reports and asking to examine key evidence and interview witnesses.
Last month, attorneys representing Waller County filed a motion seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, arguing that Bland took her life because she was distraught that her family members didn't bail her out of jail.
Reed-Veal told the news conference she doubts any serious steps are being taken to hold anyone accountable for her daughter's death.
"I don't know what happened to my daughter," Reed-Veal said as she sat with her attorneys. "I know what happened should not have happened. I know what happened to her was terrible."
Bland's sister, Sharon Cooper, said the family is "in pieces this holiday season."
"The timing of the grand jury, in my personal opinion, is disrespectful to the family and it continues to pour salt on a wound that has already been ripped open for the past five months," she said. "It prolongs the grieving process. And it is insulting.
"We feel like we have been shut out of this process from the very beginning. And we're at the door, knocking, willing and waiting, and waiting for the door to open for the answers that we've asked for regardless of what they are."
One of the family's attorneys, Cannon Lambert, called the grand jury a "sham" meant to pacify public outrage. "It's a tool of the prosecution," he said. "That's not fair."
Another family attorney, Larry Rogers, said there have been reports the grand jury could reach a decision this week, making the timing suspect because of the distraction of the holidays.
"We very much feel like this whole effort to name or convene a grand jury was just done for political reasons," Rogers said. "It was done for the purposes of trying to pacify people who are interested in seeing what actually happened and seeing the evidence.
"This whole process, from the secretive nature of it to the restricted nature of the evidence presented to the lack of involvement of the family, screams of a cover-up, screams of hiding evidence, screams of a system that the public and the family cannot have any faith in," he said.
lbowean@tribpub.com
