Ex-Texas Trooper In Sandra Bland Case Set For Arraignment
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HEMPSTEAD (CBSDFW.COM/AP) — A fired Texas trooper is facing arraignment on a misdemeanor perjury charge related to his arrest last summer of Sandra Bland, a black woman who was later found dead in a county jail.
A Waller County grand jury indicted Brian Encinia on the perjury charge after he claimed in an affidavit that Bland was "combative and uncooperative" when he pulled her over during a July traffic stop. He further said that he removed Bland so he could conduct a safer traffic investigation.
Encinia's lawyer has said the court appearance set for Tuesday afternoon likely would be brief.
Bland's jail death was ruled a suicide. Attorneys for Waller County have argued Bland killed herself because she was despondent over her relatives' refusal to quickly bail her out of jail.
Bland's arrest, captured on video, and death provoked national outrage and drew the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement. Protesters questioned officials' assertion that Bland had committed suicide and linked her to other black suspects who were killed in confrontations with police or died in police custody, including Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Freddie Gray in Baltimore.
Bland's relatives have filed a wrongful death lawsuit.
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