“I’m infuriated and everybody else should be infuriated as well,” Sharon Cooper, Sandra Bland’s sister, said at a press conference at DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago on Wednesday. Cooper said she watched the video of Bland’s arrest in it’s entirety and thought the officer’s actions were unnecessary, blaming his bruised ego. “I simply feel like the officer was picking on her,” Cooper said. “Not once did he ever say he felt threatened, but when you tell me you’re gonna ‘light me up,’ I feel extremely threatened and concerned and I’m not gonna get out my car.” The family disputes claims that Bland battled depression and said…
“I’m infuriated and everybody else should be infuriated as well,” Sharon Cooper, Sandra Bland’s sister, said at a press conference at DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Chicago on Wednesday.
Cooper said she watched the video of Bland’s arrest in it’s entirety and thought the officer’s actions were unnecessary, blaming his bruised ego.
“I simply feel like the officer was picking on her,” Cooper said. “Not once did he ever say he felt threatened, but when you tell me you’re gonna ‘light me up,’ I feel extremely threatened and concerned and I’m not gonna get out my car.”
The family disputes claims that Bland battled depression and said it was “unfathomable” that she would take her own life. During the press conference, the family’s lawyer Canon Lambert confirmed that Bland was never diagnosed with depression nor was she prescribed medication for mental health or epilepsy.
“We take issue with the notion she was suffering from depression,” Lambert said. “Everyone has hills and valleys.”
Despite earlier reports from officials that said Bland told jailers she had previously tried to commit suicide, the family had no evidence of this.
Bland’s family maintains their claims of foul play. Cooper requests everyone keep tweeting and spreading the news on social media.
Bland, 28, was pulled over on July 10 in Waller County, Texas, for failure to signal — five days before she was supposed to start her new job. The officer arrested her for allegedly assaulting him. She was taken to a jail in the town of Hempstead. Three days later, she was found dead in her cell and Waller County officials labeled her death as a suicide by hanging.
The funeral is scheduled for this Saturday in her hometown of Chicago, according to The Associated Press.
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Sandra Bland’s Sister Speaks Out: ‘The Officer Was Picking On Her’
