Sandra Bland’s autopsy reveals death by hanging, 30 cuts on wrist, marijuana in blood, no foul play

Sandra Bland’s wrist was covered in 30 cuts that were at least two weeks old and her body contained evidence of a large amount of marijuana in her system, according to an autopsy.

Results from the autopsy on the body of Bland, who was found hanging in Waller County Jail, Texas, were released by the district attorney’s office this afternoon, who said that there were no signs her death was anything but a suicide.

Family and supporters of Bland, who was arrested in a violent confrontation with a Texas state trooper before being jailed, have claimed that she would never have killed herself and must have been murdered.

According to Waller County’s assistant district attorney, her body was found hanged with a plastic bag, and does not show any signs of struggle.

Warren Diepraam, who addressed a news conference Thursday afternoon, said that there were no marks on her hands which could have come from an attempt to fight off any attacker.

He also said she only had a single wound on her neck, which apparently came from the plastic bag used in the hanging.

Diepraam said that a violent, involuntary attack would usually lead to more wounds on her neck, including broken bones. He also said there were no marks on her eyelids, lips or face, which would usually be the result of an attack.

He also noted that forensics experts found around 30 scabbing cut marks on her arms, which were between two to four weeks old, predating her arrest.

There were also scab wounds on her back and minor abrasions around her wrists, which Diepraam indicated could have come from her arrest, in which she struggled against handcuffs and was pinned to the floor by an officer’s knee in her back.

Preliminary drugs tests also found marijuana in her system.

Diepraam said that unless she took the drug inside her cell, Bland would have had to have ingested a huge amount of the substance, either by swallowing or smoking it, for it to still be in her system three days later.

Bland was pulled over on July 10 near Prairie View, Texas, northwest of Houston, for failing to signal a lane change.

After the incident escalated into an altercation between her and the trooper, Bland was taken into custody and charged with assaulting an officer.

She was found hanging in her jail cell on July 13 with a plastic trash bag around her neck.

Her death was originally ruled a suicide, although officials have said they are handling it as a murder probe.

According to Lambert, Mathis said the state needs to conduct a second autopsy on Bland, whose body was returned to the Chicago area on Wednesday in preparation for a funeral on Saturday.

CBS News reported that Mathis had asked that Bland’s body be preserved after a toxicology test found a substantial amount of marijuana in her system at the time of her death, but denying that he had ordered a second autopsy.

Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith, whose office operates the jail where Bland died, could not be reached immediately for comment Thursday on the report of marijuana in her system.

Smith told Reuters on Wednesday that the jailers on duty when Bland was admitted felt she was not a suicide risk based on their observations and her statement on the questionnaire that she was not depressed at the time.

Source: The DailyMail