The Texas sheriff in charge of the jail where Sandra Bland died told a pastor keeping vigil that she should go back to her “church of Satan”.
In comments captured on video, Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith made the remark on Monday as United Methodist Church Rev Hannah Adair Bonner filmed him walking into the jail.
Ms Bonner, who has been outside the jail every day since Ms Bland was found dead in her cell on July 13, asked Mr Smith if he wanted to say anything as he approached the building in Hempstead, Texas.
Sheriff R. Glenn Smith telling me to go back to the church of Satan-I am #UMC @UMCVideos @umrethinkchurch @GCORR_UMC pic.twitter.com/o7e5JFQAC6
— Hannah Adair Bonner (@HannahABonner) August 10, 2015
Mr Smith offered to give Ms Bonner a business card, and the pastor said she already knew his name.
“Okay, yeah,” Mr Smith then said. “Why don’t you go back to the church of Satan that you run?”
The New York Daily News said Ms Bonner, who runs a spoken word club called "The Shout," has been one of the only protesters who has been at the jail every day demanding to know what happened to Ms Bland. She has said she feels a calling to be there and is in contact with Ms Bland's family.
"I hope the vigil sends a message that the lives of our sisters deserve to be honoured and that their lives are valuable," she said.
The family of Sandra Bland has demanded a probe into her death
Ms Bland was arrested July 10 after being pulled over by a Texas state trooper during a traffic stop in the city of Prairie View.
Police said she was found hanging from her cell three days later, but the young woman’s family has dismissed their claims and have sought an independent inquiry into what happened.
An initial post-mortem examination suggested the young woman had taken her own life but the FBI has launched a probe of how she died.
