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Family of Sandra Bland settles for $1.9M

<p>In July 2015, Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell after she was arrested for failing to use her turn signal.</p><p>And now, a little more than a year later, her family has reached a $1.9 million settlement in a wrongful death lawsuit.</p><p>"Right now, my joy is in the fact that there will be real changes from here forward," Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, <a href="http://abc13.com/news/sandra-blands-family-says-civil-suit-settled-for-$19m/1512442/" target="_blank">told KTRK</a>.</p><p>The family's attorney <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/09/15/us/sandra-bland-wrongful-death-settlement/index.html" target="_blank">told CNN</a> Thursday the settlement includes compensation for Bland's death and "several changes to jail procedures" in Waller County, Texas, where she died.</p><p>Those changes include using automated electronic sensors to ensure timely and accurate cell checks, providing an on-duty nurse and emergency medical technician during each shift and providing education for jailer screening.</p><p>As for the monetary aspect of the settlement, the Waller County Jail is on the hook for the majority of it —<a href="http://abc13.com/news/sandra-blands-family-says-civil-suit-settled-for-$19m/1512442/" target="_blank"> $1.8 million</a>. The Texas Department of Public Safety will pay $100,000.</p><p>Bland was pulled over by Texas state trooper Brian Encinia on July 10, 2015, for an improper lane change. But the stop escalated, and there was a struggle before she was taken into custody.</p><p>Investigators say she died a few days later. She was reportedly found hanging in her cell, and her death was ruled a suicide.</p><p>Waller County and the Texas Department of Public Safety have yet to comment on the settlement.</p><hr><b>Trending stories at <a href="http://www.newsy.com">Newsy.com</a></b><ul class="inline-related-links"><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/videos/george-zimmerman-testimony-shifts-to-black-lives-matter/">Focus Of George Zimmerman Testimony Shifts To Black Lives Matter</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/videos/the-public-doesn-t-really-trust-the-media/">The Public Doesn't Really Trust The Media</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/videos/georgia-kids-say-clowns-chased-them-on-the-way-to-school/">Even More Creepy Clown Sightings Have Been Reported Down South</a></li></ul>
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HOUSTON (AP) — The family of Sandra Bland, a black Chicago-area woman who died in a Texas jail after a contentious traffic stop last summer, has reached a $1.9 million settlement in their wrongful death lawsuit, the family's attorney told a Houston television Thursday.

But local officials said the agreement hasn't been finalized and was supposed to remain confidential until a final settlement was reached.

Bland died in her cell at the Waller County Jail three days after she was arrested by a white Texas state trooper for a minor traffic offense in July 2015. Her death was ruled a suicide, and Bland's family later sued the county and the Texas Department of Public Safety.

The family's Chicago-based attorney, Cannon Lambert, told Houston television station KTRK that the $1.9 million settlement includes a provision that the jail have a 24-hour nurse or emergency medical technician on duty. Bland's mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, told the station any legislation passed which benefits Waller County must be named in her daughter's honor.

"It's awesome," Reed-Veal told the Chicago Sun-Times newspaper. "It's a victory for mothers across the country."

Waller County attorney Larry Simmons said Thursday that a potential settlement has been reached but isn't final. He also said the parties involved agreed in writing that the agreement would be kept confidential until it was finalized.

Simmons said the county and lawyers for Bland's family were "still working through a few details," and that any settlement must be approved by the county commissioners. He also said the county "vigorously" denies any fault or wronging in Bland's death.

Bland's sister didn't immediately respond to a phone message seeking comment from The Associated Press.

Bland was pulled over by a state trooper in Prairie View, northwest of Houston, for changing lanes without signaling. The stop grew confrontational, and the trooper, Brian Encinia, ordered her from the car before forcing her to the ground and taking her into custody on a charge of assaulting a public servant. Authorities have said Bland was unable to immediately come up with the $500 bail.

Video from the traffic stop shows Encinia drawing his stun gun and telling Bland, "I will light you up!" She can later be heard off-camera screaming that he's about to break her wrists and complaining that he knocked her head into the ground. The video provoked national outrage and drew the attention of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Encinia was later fired and charged a misdemeanor perjury charge stemming from the arrest. He has pleaded not guilty.

In an affidavit, Encinia's said he removed Bland "from her vehicle to further conduct a safer traffic investigation," but prosecutors said grand jurors in Waller County found that statement to be false.

Bland, who attended Prairie View A&M University just outside Hempstead, was in the process of moving to Texas from the Chicago area to take a job at the school.