HOUSTON – The family of Sandra Bland has filed a lawsuit against the Waller County, the state trooper who arrested her and two jailers after the 28-year-old Chicago-area woman was found dead in a Texas jail cell three days after she was arrested during a traffic stop.
Bland's family filed the lawsuit Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Houston against those they say are responsible for her death.
"We are looking for Waller County and the individuals involved in this situation to take accountability," said Bland family attorney Cannon Lambert.
"The bottom line is she should have never been inside of the jail. Period," said Bland's mother Geneva Reed-Veal. "Justice is going to be served. If the justice system will do what it's supposed to do."
[READ THE BLAND FAMILY LAWSUIT]
Bland was found dead in her jail cell on July 13, three days after being arrested by Texas State Trooper Brian Encina.
Bland was pulled over by Encinia on July 10 for failing to use a turn signal. Bland refused the officer's request to put out a cigarette and his subsequent order to get out of the car. He threatened to shoot Bland with a stun gun unless she obeyed his order, and said she kicked him during the tussle. He then placed her under arrest and she was booked into the Waller County Jail.
What happened next, has left many across the country ask "What happened to Sandra Bland."
The 28-year-old's death was ruled self-inflicted asphyxiation, or suicide by hanging. The Harris County Medical Examiner's Office determined through an autopsy that Bland hanged herself with a plastic bag.
Bland's family has questioned the finding, saying she was excited about starting a new job and wouldn't have taken her own life.
"I am still confident in the fact that she knew enough about Jesus that she would not take herself out," Bland's mother said at a press conference on Tuesday. "If the facts show without a doubt that was the case, then I will be prepared to deal with that."
DPS released a statement Tuesday that read, "The department has not received notice of a lawsuit, and we do not discuss potential or pending litigation."
Preliminary toxicology results from the autopsy of Sandra Bland show levels of THC in Bland's bloodstream that could suggest she ingested marijuana while she was being held in the jail. A more likely scenario according to Assistant Waller County District Attorney Warren Diepraam, is that Bland ingested a very large amount of marijuana prior to her arrest.
In the days leading up to Sandra Bland's death, she wasn't eating and was emotional, a former jail mate said.
Alexandria Pyle , who was in a neighboring cell at the Waller County Jail in Texas, said Bland was upset because her bond was set at $5,000 and no one was returning her jailhouse calls.
"She wasn't eating and when I did talk to her, she was just crying and crying and all I could say was they could not hold you forever," Pyle said.
The traffic stop -- which was captured on police dash cam video and on a bystander's cellphone -- and Bland's death in custody have resonated on social media.
Bland was an advocate for the #BlackLivesMatter campaign, protesting police brutality against minorities, and many feel she was targeted.
Countless rallies have been held calling for justice and answers in Bland's death.
Anger over Sandra Bland's death in a Texas jail has boiled over after newly released video showed what happened at the traffic stop that led to her arrest. Now, many question whether she should have been arrested at all.