HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) – Texas authorities released additional footage from Sandra Bland’s three days in jail, saying they wanted to dispel rumors that she was dead before arriving.
Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said Tuesday that such conspiracy theories – including one that Bland’s mug shot was taken after her death – have prompted death threats against county officials.
“Because of some of the things that’s gone out on social media, this county has been literally attacked,” he said at a news conference, adding that the FBI is investigating the most serious threats.
“Sandra Bland was alive and well” until she was found hanging on July 13 in her cell at the Waller County Jail, Duhon said. Authorities have ruled that Bland’s death, three days after her arrest during a confrontational traffic stop, was a suicide.
The video released shows her arriving at the jail, being questioned by a jailer filling out forms, making phone calls, getting her mug shot taken, sleeping in her cell and being taken in and out.