“Black Lives Matter” activist Sandra Bland

WALLER COUNTY, Texas — A civil rights activist associated with the “Black Lives Matter” movement was found dead Monday morning in her jail cell. Police claim the cause of death was “self inflicted asphyxiation,” but friends, family, and activists are skeptical of the report.

Sandra Bland, 28, was discovered dead at approximately 9 a.m. after being taken to jail following charges of assault on a public servant. Little other details have been released about Bland’s death, including how she was able to self asphyxiate.

While officials in Waller County maintain the story that Bland committed suicide, the Texas State Rangers have launched an investigation into Bland’s death.

Bland’s friends say she was not suicidal.

“I do suspect foul play,” said Cheryl Nanton to a local ABC affiliate. “I believe that we are all 100 percent in belief that she did not do harm to herself.”

“We’re very suspicious, and we’re a very tight community, and we’re very upset that this has happened, and it seems like there’s nothing really being done about it,” said LaVaughn Mosley.

Police claim that Bland was originally placed in jail for assaulting a police officer, who has not been named. In a video of the arrest, captured by a bystander, Bland can be heard saying, “You just slammed my head into the ground! Do you not even care about that? I can’t even hear!” At one point, an officer is heard commanding the bystander recording the video to leave.

Video of the arrest is available below:

The video does not show what happened prior to Bland being placed in handcuffs, but a witness says the police officer pulled Bland from her car and threw her down on the ground, corroborating Bland’s own statements in the video.

LOS ANGELES — Ten jail employees accused of inmate neglect had their employment at the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department terminated, according to an official statement released Saturday.

An inmate filed a complaint on June 27 that claims he was restrained and held in handcuffs for approximately 32 hours, receiving no food, after being accused of assaulting a guard.

“I am deeply committed to providing the highest levels of constitutional care to those in our charge and will quickly address and remedy any conduct, policies, or practices that do not meet this expectation and high standard,” said Sheriff Jim McDonnell in Saturday’s statement.

This is not the first time in recent history the jail’s employees have been accused of abuse. These latest accusations come just two years after a sprawling investigation turned up charges against 18 different Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officers for misconduct and excessive force.

An internal investigation has been launched and given to the Sheriff’s Internal Criminal Investigations Bureau, with further disciplinary action pending. So far no charges have been filed against any of the employees.

by Virgil Vaduva

Knox County Prosecutor Chip McConville (Contact: [email protected] and (740) 393-6720) from Mt. Vernon, Ohio recently decided that it was completely appropriate for his office to notify local residents and businesses about an upcoming pro-gun rally and warn residents to avoid the area where the rally was to take place. The office also posted a picture on their Facebook page indicating where gun carrying is and is not allowed.

On May 15, 2015, The Living Center, a retirement community based in Mt. Vernon, Ohio sent a letter to the residents living in their community stating,

“The Knox County Prosecutor’s Office has requested this notice be given out to the Knox County area.”

It is not clear why McConville’s office decided to send this letter out to local businesses or what prompted the letter to go out, but calls made to McConville’s office were not returned.  Knox County Sheriff David Shaffer (Contact: [email protected]) also has not commented on why this letter was sent out.

The armed-rally in Mt. Vernon was organized by a group of local citizens after the suspicious death of a 33 year old man in the local jail.  David Dehmann died in suspicious circumstances on April 21, 2015 after jail guards slammed his head into the jail’s concrete floor.

“We got a phone call at 4:00 a.m. from his mom just stating that he was in Grant Medical Center with head trauma and we need to get there,” step-mom Melissa Dehmann said.

According to police reports, Dehmann was arrested at 7:43 p.m. at a local elementary school for persistent disorderly conduct. He had been drinking. Once in the car, the officer says Dehmann became verbally abusive, hit the Plexiglas cage and spit on the passenger door window. Then, at the Knox County Jail, a deputy says Dehmann became aggressive with the jail staff and attempted to hit the deputy in the face, causing that deputy to place Dehmann in a take-down hold.

The jail guards claim that the take-down was justified but they were unable to explain why death would result from an action that is now being claimed to have been legal.

Initially the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation told local news that the investigation is ongoing, that there is surveillance video of the incident but it will not be released, however after public pressure the video was released, showing a jail guard brutally slamming David Dehmann head-first into the concrete floor.

The armed protest was scheduled to take place on May 16 at the Mt. Vernon county jail in order to promote awareness about the importance of the incident and about police brutality.

Prosecutors in Knox County have also not explained if there will be any charges brought against the officers involved in the jail incident which led to Dehmann’s death.

While the letter sent out to the community by Chip McConville italicized the word “lawfully” in order to emphasize that the protest was legal, it also implies that residents may have reasons to fear for their lives or safety if they approach the area of the protest.  It states,

“Please arrange your outside of the building trips to not occur on Saturday, May 16, 2015. If you need to go out of the building go North to get out of the downtown area. This is for your own protection.”

It is unclear why there were safety concerns or if the prosecutor’s office was simply attempting to distract the community from the real issue at hand, which is their refusal to prosecute abusive police officers.

Virgil Vaduva is a Libertarian security professional, journalist, photographer and overall liberty freak.  He spent most of his life in Communist Romania and participated in the 1989 street protests which led to the collapse of the Ceausescu regime. He can be reached at vvaduva at truthvoice.com.

State authorities said they are investigating after a video surfaced showing an Alton police officer macing two teens in handcuffs at Alton Police headquarters.

The video, dated January 26, 2015, shows two teens sitting in a holding area at the Alton Police Department. An officer then walks in, says something, and then pulls out what appears to be a can of pepper spray and sprays both teens. One of the teens then twitches and shakes for several minutes.

“It’s infuriating to me to see this officer coming in and spraying these kids who are handcuffed,” said James Gray, President of the Alton NAACP.

Gray showed the video to News 4 after receiving it in the mail. Gray said he does not like the way Alton Police Chief Jason Simmons is running the department. Simmons future will soon be by the Alton Board of Aldermen, who will decide whether to re-appoint him.

“He’s up for re-appointment but I do not think he should be reappointed, he has to know about this and possibly many more things like this they haven’t sent to me,” Gray said.

Simmons said he has known about the incident since March when a high ranking officer told him what took place. Simmons said it then took two months for officers to write a report on the incident, which he said he received May 6.

“It raised a red flag and appears to be a very serious issue. However, it will be investigated by internal affairs and everything will be looked over before any type of discipline will be issued,” Simmons said.

Simmons told News 4 he is upset that his officers were slow in reporting the incident to him. He believes the delay may be due to the fact that many officers do not like some of the reforms he has put in place, and are therefore trying to find a way to oust him from his post.

KMOV.com