Family of Woman Found Dead in Jail Says ‘Depression' Not Full Story

The family of the woman found dead in a Texas jail said Friday that a video from March in which she talked about battling depression does not tell the whole story. 

On Thursday, a prosecutor said that the video from earlier in the year suggest Bland "may have been suffering from some sort of mental illness" which, lead to her apparent suicide. 

But the 28-year-old's family claims Bland "may have used the term 'depression,' but that statement in March had very little to do with her mindset" before she died, the family's attorney, Cannon Lambert Sr., said on MSNBC on Friday. 

Bland was found hanging in her jail cell on Monday, days after she was arrested for allegedly assaulting a police officer during a traffic stop. An autopsy on Bland's body on Tuesday ruled her death a suicide by hanging, a spokeswoman told the Chicago Tribune.

She was upbeat and looking forward to her new future in Houston, where she had just moved for a new job at A&M University, her sister, Sharon Cooper, told MSNBC on Friday.  

Lambert told MSNBC that authorities are trying to conflate the circumstances of Bland's death with what she may ahve said about depression in her past. In the video, which was uploaded to Facebook and confirmed by her family, Bland says: "I want you guys to know that I am a human, and so if there are any of you that are dealing with those same things, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder— it's OK."

Contact Us