After Sandra Bland’s death, her mother filed a federal wrongful death lawsuit against Waller County, two screening officers at the jail, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and the officer who pulled Bland over. The Houston Chronicle now reports that Waller County lawyers have filed a motion to dismiss the case.
Waller County argues that the defendants “did not have any subjective knowledge of and were not deliberately indifferent to any alleged serious risk of suicide.” The motion also places blame on Bland's family for her death.
“Bland committed suicide by hanging herself in the jail cell, using a rolled/twisted plastic trash bag as a ligature, and tying it around the support of a privacy partition in the cell,” the filing reads. “It is apparent now that Bland’s inability to secure her release from jail—and her family and friends’ refusal to bail her out of jail—led her to commit suicide.”
By placing blame on Bland's family, the filing blatantly ignores Bland's unjust arrest and the unjust bail system she was subjected too.
Photo: Joshua Lott/Getty Images
By placing blame on Bland's family, the filing blatantly ignores Bland's unjust arrest and the unjust bail system she was subjected too.
Photo: Joshua Lott/Getty Images
