By Miriam Rozen, From Texas Lawyer

The mother of Sandra Bland filed a civil rights lawsuit on behalf of herself and her daughter’s estate. In her suit, filed in Houston federal court on Aug. 4, the mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, named as defendants: Texas state trooper Brian Encinia, Waller County jail screening officers Oscar Prudente and Elsa Magnus, the Texas Department of Public Safety and Waller County.

Bland, who was black, died in a county jail after Encinia, who is white, stopped her for failing to use her signal. Bland’s death drew international attention and raised questions about the criminal justice system in that part of Texas.

“Obviously she should have never been in jail,” said J. Thomas Rhodes, the San Antonio lawyer who represents Bland’s family. “The reality is that we have a lot of questions that we can’t get answered,” he said.

Rhodes hopes that the lawsuit leads to answers.

“We haven’t even got the entirety of the toxicology report. We want to get some answers for this family,” Rhodes said.

“The situation shouldn’t have happened. We are talking about a very young woman pulled over for not using a lane-change signal, and then it escalates into her being put into custody and her death. The family wants answers. It’s been three weeks, and they don’t have answers,” Rhodes said.

Rhodes said he was tapped to represent Bland by his co-counsel Cannon Lambert of Karchmar & Lambert in Chicago. Lambert knows the Bland family, who live in Chicago.

Rhodes said additional defendants may be added to the case as the Bland family gets more information.

Calls to Encinia, Magnus and Prudente were referred to a spokesman for Waller County, who did not return a call for comment. Instead, Larry Simmons, outside counsel to the county, who will most likely also represent the county employees named as defendants, sent an emailed statement.

“The County expresses its sympathy to Sandra Bland’s family. We look forward to presenting all the evidence to the Court, in the context of the applicable standards for civil liability, and intend to vigorously defend the case. We will be filing a response soon, and our court filings will clearly articulate the County’s legal position in this matter,” Simmons, a principal in the Houston and Beaumont offices of Germer, wrote.

A Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman said that Encinia refers all calls related to the Bland incident to her office. Her office issued a statement stating that DPS had not received notice of the lawsuit and would not comment on pending litigation.

IMAGE: J. Thomas Rhodes

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