Lawyer: $1.9 million settlement in Sandra Bland lawsuit

HOUSTON — The mother of Sandra Bland, a black woman who died last summer in a Waller County jail after a contentious traffic stop, has reached a $1.9 million settlement in her wrongful-death lawsuit, her attorney said Thursday.

Local officials insisted the agreement was not yet final, but the mother’s attorney said the deal was “absolute” and that the family’s lawsuit would be dismissed in several days.

Bland, who was from the Chicago area, died in her cell days after she was pulled over by a white state trooper for a minor traffic offense. Her death was ruled a suicide, and Bland’s family later sued Waller County and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The $1.9 million settlement includes a requirement that the jail have a nurse or emergency medical technician on duty 24 hours a day, the family’s Chicago-based attorney, Cannon Lambert, told The Associated Press.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/state-regional-govt-politics/lawyer-19-million-settlement-in-sandra-bland-lawsu/nsYwM/

Cross-posted in the African American Group.