Sandra Bland's Mother Says Daughter's Death is a ‘Testimony' During Funeral Services

The mother of suburban Chicago woman Sandra Bland said her daughter's death was "not a tragedy or a travesty, but a testimony" during her funeral services Saturday.

Services were held at the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle, Bland's home church.

The 28-year-old Bland was found hanged to death in her jail cell three days after being arrested during a traffic stop in Texas. An autopsy report released Friday concluded that Bland hanged herself using a clear plastic bag tied into a slipknot, but her family continues to dispute the account that she committed suicide.

"That baby did not take herself out," Geneva Reed-Veal, Bland's mother, said at her funeral.

Texas authorities said last week that the trooper who arrested Bland violated procedures and the department's courtesy policy during the traffic stop and was placed on administrative leave.

Dashcam video of her arrest was released Tuesday. On Wednesday, the Department of Public Safety pushed back against claims that the 52-minute video was edited, blaming a "technical issue during posting" for irregularities in the footage.

Texas politicians, including State Sen. Royce West, said at a news conference Tuesday that Bland should not have been arrested in the first place.

Prior to the funeral service, Rev. Theresa Dear, of DuPage AME, said Bland would be eulogized "as a courageous woman who refused to be subdued and silenced."

Among those who spoke at the funeral was Sen. Dick Durbin, who recently sent a letter to Attorney General Loretta Lynch calling for a federal investigation into Bland's death and the circumstances surrounding her arrest.

Bland was buried in the Mt. Glenwood Memorial Gardens West in Willow Springs. Although she has now been laid to rest, her mother expressed the family's desire to continue the investigation into her death.

"I want to know what happened to my baby," Reed-Veal said. "I'm going to find out what happened to her ... I'm going to take today and tomorrow to relax, but it's on on Monday."

Johnson Funeral Services in Chicago handled the funeral arrangements and said “expressions of kindness for the family” can be sent to the church.