A Texas grand jury will not indict anyone on criminal charges in the police-custody death of Sandra Bland, according to several Houston news outlets.
According to a report in the Houston Chronicle, a Waller County grand jury convened Monday for the third time in six weeks and declined to bring charges.
A special prosecutor in the case told TV station KTRK that “grand jurors will reconvene January 6 to discuss other, misdemeanor matters related to the case,” but there will be no criminal indictments.
The 28-year-old Ms. Bland was found dead in her jail cell, three days after having been arrested in Prairie View, Texas, by a cop whom she, and then later Black Lives Matter and other activists, accused of racial profiling.
The autopsy ruled that she had hanged herself, but her family refused to accept that finding, saying she wasn’t the suicidal sort.
The Bland family has filed wrongful-death lawsuits against Trooper Brian Encinia, the Department of Public Safety, the Waller County Jail and two of its employees.
Ms. Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed Veal, told reporters in Chicago on Monday that “now we’re going to go through Christmas now and Sandy’s not here. And more than that, we still have no answers as far as I’m concerned.”
• Victor Morton can be reached at vmorton@washingtontimes.com.
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