• News & Politics
  • Culture
  • Food
logo
  • Science & Health
  • Life Stories
  • Video
  • About
Profile Go Ad-Free Logout
logo

#JusticeForSandra and #SandraBland trending on Twitter as answers are demanded of Texas police who allowed her to die

"I will admit it is strange someone who had everything going for her would have taken her own life" the DA said

By Scott Eric Kaufman
July 16, 2015 9:54PM (UTC)
main article image
Sandra Bland (ABC7)
--

Shares

Facebook
Twitter
Reddit
Email

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."

Advertisement:

"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"]

Advertisement:

[embedtweet id="621732242197454848"]

[embedtweet id="621732210781990912"]

[embedtweet id="621731866450784256"]

[embedtweet id="621731582819209216"]

[embedtweet id="621731429550952448"]

[embedtweet id="621718126225305600"]

[embedtweet id="621717576759050240"]

Advertisement:

[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.


Scott Eric Kaufman

Scott Eric Kaufman is an assistant editor at Salon. He taught at a university, but then thought better of it. Follow him at @scottekaufman or email him at skaufman@salon.com.

MORE FROM Scott Eric Kaufman • FOLLOW scottekaufman • LIKE Scott Eric Kaufman


Related Topics ------------------------------------------

#blacklivesmatter Elton Mathis Glenn Smith Sandy Bland Sanrda Bland Texas Twitter Waller County

Related Articles


Trending Articles from Salon

  • Home
  • About
  • Staff
  • Contact
  • Privacy
  • Terms of Service
  • Archive
  • Go Ad Free

Copyright © 2021 Salon.com, LLC. Reproduction of material from any Salon pages without written permission is strictly prohibited. SALON ® is registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office as a trademark of Salon.com, LLC. Associated Press articles: Copyright © 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


DMCA Policy