Skip to content

Lawyer: Ex-jail guard falsified log entries in Sandra Bland’s death

PUBLISHED: | UPDATED:

An attorney in the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the mother of Sandra Bland, who died last summer in a Texas jail, says an ex-guard told him in a deposition he falsified jail log entries.

The Houston Chronicle reports attorney Cannon Lambert says the guard, Rafael Zuniga, noted in a jail log he had checked on Bland in the hour before she was found dead in her cell. Lambert says the guard acknowledged falsifying the log.

Larry Simmons, Waller County’s attorney, says the testimony was taken out of context.

Bland, who had lived in Chicago’s suburbs including Naperville and Aurora, died in jail after being arrested during a traffic stop. Authorities ruled her death a suicide, but her case has become part of the national conversation about police treatment of black citizens.

The lawsuit alleges jail personnel didn’t keep Bland safe.

Bland was in the process of moving from the Chicago area to Texas.

Associated Press