DALLAS — A woman whose death in a Texas jail has raised suspicions about the official conclusion that she hanged herself had told a guard during the booking process that she had tried to kill herself in the past, the sheriff said Wednesday.
Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith told The Associated Press that Sandra Bland told a jailer about the previous suicide attempt sometime after her July 10 arrest.
Bland provided the information while being asked a series of questions posed to each person booked into the jail in Hempstead, about 60 miles northwest of Houston, the sheriff said. He did not provide details about the conversation.
The attorney representing Bland’s family, Cannon Lambert, said relatives have no evidence that she ever attempted suicide or had been treated for depression.
A second jailer also interviewed Bland, the sheriff said. The 28-year-old from the Chicago area said she was not depressed but was upset about her arrest, which occurred after a confrontation with a white officer who had stopped her for a minor traffic violation.
Smith says both jailers said Bland, who was black, seemed fine when being booked on a charge of assaulting a public servant.
Bland’s body was found three days later in her cell. Authorities say she hanged herself using a plastic liner from a garbage can.
Her family has said she was not despondent and was looking forward to starting a new job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University.
However, Bland posted a video to her Facebook page in March, saying she was suffering from “a little bit of depression as well as PTSD,” or post-traumatic stress disorder. At least one friend has said she was just venting after a bad day.
In suburban Chicago, Bland’s relatives held a news conference to discuss video of the arrest taken from the officer’s dashcam, which shows him drawing a stun gun and threatening Bland when she refuses to follow his orders.
Bland’s family says she was not acting suicidal. Family attorney Cannon Lambert said Wednesday that Bland had just bought groceries and was ecstatic about her new job when she was pulled over.
Her body was flown back to Chicago in preparation for a funeral on Saturday.
