DPS to fire trooper indicted in Sandra Bland case

Sandra Bland

AUSTIN - Following the Waller County grand jury indictment of Trooper Brian Encinia today, the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) will begin termination proceedings to discharge him from the department.

Following the arrest of Sandra Bland by Trooper Encinia during a traffic stop on July 10, 2015, in Prairie View, Texas, and the subsequent in-custody death at the Waller County Jail, the Texas Rangers immediately conducted an investigation into both incidents to determine if any criminal violation had occurred. The results of the investigation were turned over to the Waller County special prosecutors and ultimately the grand jury.

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Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia has been indicted for perjury in the case of Sandra Bland's death.

HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) — After a grand jury resumed considering the case of Sandra Bland, the black Chicago-area woman who died in Waller County jail three days after her summer of 2015 traffic stop arrest, a trooper in the case has been indicted for perjury.

A team of special prosecutors presented evidence Wednesday before the same Waller County jurors who declined to indict anyone in Bland's death when they met in December 2015.

The 28-year-old woman was found with a plastic bag tied around her neck in her cell at the jail about 50 miles northwest of Houston. A medical examiner ruled her death a suicide.