The death of Sandra Bland attracted little attention until today, and that’s probably how authorities in Waller County, Texas would have preferred it — but after video of her not assaulting an officer, as police had claimed, came to light, they have little choice.
Even Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis is questioning the sheriff’s department’s official story that she died “from what appears to be self-inflicted asphyxiation.”
“I will admit it is strange someone who had everything going for her would have taken her own life,” Mathis said of the young woman who had just moved back to Texas to take a position at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University. “That’s why it’s very important a thorough investigation is done and that we get a good picture of what Ms. Bland was going through the last four or five days of her life.”
“If there was something nefarious, or if there was some foul play involved, we’ll get to the bottom of that,” he added — and if the reaction on Twitter today was any indication, the Internet will hold him to his word:
[embedtweet id=”621732415304634368″]
[embedtweet id=”621732242197454848″]
[embedtweet id=”621732210781990912″]
[embedtweet id=”621731866450784256″]
[embedtweet id=”621731582819209216″]
[embedtweet id=”621731429550952448″]
[embedtweet id=”621718126225305600″]
[embedtweet id=”621717576759050240″]
[embedtweet id=”621715042497511424″]
[embedtweet id=”621712374215499776″]
And this was before it came to light that Sheriff Glenn Smith was fired from his previous job in law enforcement complaints of racial discrimination that he described as incidents that did “not meet professionalism as it should with language” — a confession that leaves little to the imagination as to what he actually said.
