Sandra Bland’s family orders independent autopsy after jail death

The family of Sandra Bland, who died in police custody Monday in Texas, has ordered an independent autopsy to be conducted, a family attorney told ABC News.

Sandra Bland independent autopsy

The family should expect the results within 48 – 72 hours attorney Cannon Lambert said.

“We want to understand how it is that this kind of played out and what will end up ultimately being the cause of death,” Lambert said.

While authorities say the 28-year-old died by suicide in her jail cell, her family says she was days away from starting a new job and would never take her own life.

Traffic stop

Bland, who lived in a Naperville – a Chicago suburb, was heading to Texas for a new job with her alma mater Prairie View A&M University when she was stopped by police for a routine traffic stop. Authorities allege she was “argumentative and uncooperative.”

In cell phone video of the arrest that was posted to YouTube, Bland can be heard questioning officers’ tactics, accusing them of slamming her to the ground.

Bland was found dead in her cell three days later.

ABC reports:

Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis said an autopsy found Bland died by asphyxiation and that she used a plastic bag to hang herself from a partition in her cell. He added that although jail video didn’t show what went on in Bland’s cell, it showed no one went in or out of it from the time she was placed there until a jailer found her unconscious.

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A prosecutor said Thursday that he will present the findings of a Texas Rangers‘ investigation to a grand jury. The FBI is also investigating the circumstances surrounding Bland’s death.