Trooper Who Arrested Sandra Bland Indicted for Perjury, Fired from Job

WALLER COUNTY, TEXAS — The Texas Department of Public Safety trooper who arrested Sandra Bland has been indicted by a grand jury on a perjury charge and subsequently fired from the department.

According to a release from the TDPS, it “will begin termination proceedings to discharge him from the department.”

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Trooper Brian Encinia had said in a report that he pulled Bland from her car to continue the investigation, which the jury reportedly didn’t buy. He was placed on administrative leave after it was determined he violated department standards and codes of conduct during the stop.

Special prosecutor Darrell Jordan told the Houston Chronicle that the charge is a class A misdemeanor punishable by up to a year in jail and a $4,000 fine.

“They just didn’t believe it ... a warrant will be issued and we’ll go from there,” he told the Chronicle.

Cannon Lambert, lawyer for the family of Sandra Bland, told the Chronicle he didn’t understand why it took so long to charge him.

“We also don’t understand why [Encinia] wasn’t charged with assault when he said ‘I‘ll light you up,’ and with battery for grabbing [Bland] when she was in the car,” Lambert told the paper.

Encinia pulled Bland over July 10, 2015, for failing to signal a lane change. Three days later she was found dead in her jail cell from a suicide, according to the medical examiner.

A grand jury had previously issued no indictments against jail staff or members of the Waller County Sheriff’s Office.

Dash cam footage of the traffic stop showed tensions escalating for both the trooper and Bland, with Bland being uncooperative and Encinia threatening to light her up with his stun gun after she refused to get out of her car.

When Bland refused to put out her cigarette, Encinia demanded she get out of the car, which Bland repeatedly refused to do, claiming he didn’t have the right to remove her from the car.

“I’m going to yank you out of here,” Encinia said in the video. “I’m going to drag you out of here. Get out of the car. I’m going to light you up.”