Jail interview report bolsters suicide claim
Sandra Bland told her jailers that she had tried to kill herself, documents show.
HOUSTON — Sandra Bland, who died in a Texas cell three days after her arrest during a traffic stop, told jailers that she had previously tried to commit suicide by taking pills because she had lost a baby, according to booking documents released Wednesday.
The documents were made public as officials investigated whether Bland killed herself July 13 in the Waller County Jail, where she was being held on a felony charge of assaulting a state trooper who had pulled her over in Prairie View, Texas.
Her family and friends have contended that the 28year-old Illinois woman was upbeat about getting a new job in Prairie View and would never have taken her own life.
The family lawyer, Cannon Lambert, told reporters at a televised news conference Wednesday that there was no evidence that Bland had ever attempted suicide or been treated for depression. Texas officials were trying to shift the focus away from the contentious arrest July 10 that started the chain of events that led to the discovery of Bland’s body in the cell three days later, he said.
Law enforcement officials had briefed local lawmakers about the jail documents Tuesday, and the substance was reported in the local press. On Wednesday, the county prosecutor’s office released the documents after media inquiries.
Question 14 asks whether the woman being arrested had ever attempted suicide and if so, when, why and how.
Bland responded to the screening officer that she had attempted suicide “in 2015, lost baby, by taking pills.”
The form also notes that Bland did not seem confused, preoccupied, sad or paranoid when she was interviewed.
The documents make no mention of any special monitoring arrangements or suicide watch. Bland was given a security designation of “medium assaultive-escape,” two steps below a “high” security designation and one step below “close custody.”
Sharon Cooper, Bland’s sister, told CNN she was unaware of any suicide attempt by her sister and questioned the jail documents. “I have a hard time dealing with the inconsistencies, and that seems to be the theme of the last few days here,” she said.
Earlier Wednesday, Lambert dismissed actions by Texas officials, including the release of a corrected dashboard video of the arrest. On Tuesday, the Texas Department of Public Safety had posted a video containing technical glitches, prompting questions about whether the video had been altered or edited. Texas officials denied any editing and linked the glitches to problems uploading the video.
“Her medical history is not the issue,” Lambert said. “It is an attempt to divert attention from the real issue. This happened because an officer was overzealous.”