Lawyer: $1.9 million settlement in Sandra Bland lawsuit
CHICAGO (AP) — The mother of Sandra Bland, a black woman who died last summer in a Texas jail after a contentious traffic stop, has reached a $1.9 million settlement in her wrongful-death lawsuit, her attorney said Thursday.
The $1.9 million settlement includes a requirement that the jail have a nurse or emergency medical technician on duty 24 hours a day, the family's Chicago-based attorney, Cannon Lambert, told The Associated Press in an interview at his office.
The jail must also install electronic sensors to ensure guards are checking on detainees, and the defendants agree to help push for statewide legislation in Bland's name that would require training to ensure jail personnel are properly caring for inmates, Lambert said.
The Texas Department of Public Safety, also named as a defendant, released a statement saying it "has not settled litigation regarding Sandra Bland and is not a party to any agreements between the plaintiffs and Waller County defendants."
Video from the July 10, 2015, traffic stop shows Encinia drawing his stun gun and telling Bland, "I will light you up!" She can later be heard screaming off-camera that the trooper was about to break her wrists and complaining that he knocked her head into the ground.
A medical examiner ruled the death a suicide, and a grand jury declined to charge any sheriff's officials or jailers.