A Texas jailer tasked with watching Sandra Bland in her jail cell recently testified under oath that he lied about checking on her, and about a dozen other inmates, about an hour before she was found dead when in fact he did not, according the the Houston Chronicle.
Bland’s death was ruled a suicide.
Special prosecutors working the case reportedly knew the jail log records were falsified.
A PINAC News special investigation concluded last year that Bland’s death was the fault of her Texas jailers northwest of Houston, regardless of the actual cause of death which was officially ruled a suicide by hanging, because she was not treated for her epilepsy, for which she took the drug Keppra.
An attorney representing Waller County told the Chronicle the guard’s falsification of records was taken out of context and just “a small portion of that testimony.”
“Numerous depositions have been taken in the case involving dozens of hours of testimony,” Larry Simmons, an attorney for Bland’s mother, stated. “It is a gross miscarriage of justice and misinterpretation for any party to cherry-pick or mischaracterize a small portion of that testimony, and take it out of context.”
Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, is currently pursuing a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging Bland’s death was a result of willful and wanton negligence by Waller County and its officials, among other allegations.
Bland was arrested and jailed over a failing to signal a turn, which normally involves a simple citation, by Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia.
Encinia since been fired and charged with perjury, after a grand jury did not believe his story claiming he removed Bland from her vehicle to ‘conduct a safer traffic stop’.
Dashcam video shows Encinia enraged at Bland and holding a stun gun at her yelling, “I will light you up!” after she refused to get out of her car and put out her cigarette.
Encinia later falsely alleged in his report that Bland assaulted him in order to justify arresting her, which is a common tactic police use for contempt of cop.
Video evidence showed that to be false.
Last June, two Williamson County Texas Jailers were arrested for tampering with government records after they falsified Suicide Watch Logs by initialing the logs and falsifying the times without actually performing checks on the inmates.
In that case, Theodore Hodges, 22, and Jose Hodgers-Lizarraga, 23 allegedly violated state law and the Sheriff’s Office policy and were each issued a $20,000 bond.
The Texas Commission on Jail Standards cited Waller County jail last July for not checking on inmates but didn’t say if the citation was related to Bland’s death.
In Texas, all inmates must be observed once every 60 minutes.
And any inmate determined suicidal must be observed in person every 30 minutes, Executive Director Brandon Wood said.
As of yet, no one has been charged in relation to Bland’s death at the jail.
Below is dash cam footage of Bland’s arrest, which shows Texas Trooper Brian Encinia becoming engaged after Bland refused to put out her cigarette.
Texas Law Enforcement is to Blame for Sandra Bland’s Death (Podcast)
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