Sandra Bland Jail Death: Texas Trooper Who Made Arrest Said She Elbowed Him And Kicked Him In The Shins

The Texas state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland said in a written statement that Bland elbowed him and kicked him in the shins as he tried to place her under arrest, a journalist for an ABC affiliate in Chicago reported. Ross Weidner of WLS-TV posted an image of the Texas officer's statement to Twitter on Tuesday.

Bland was pulled over for a routine traffic violation in Waller County, Texas, on July 10. She was reportedly stopped for smoking a cigarette in her car. After being arrested and placed in a county jail, Bland was found dead by apparent hanging in her cell. Friends and family have questioned the circumstances of her death, insisting there was foul play.

The post from Weidner's verified Twitter account appears below:

The statement by the state trooper was released just one day after video from the arresting officer's dash-cam was publicized. Cannon Lambert, the attorney for Bland's family, said the footage made him question the official narrative of the police, saying the video gave "no clear understanding why she had to get out of the car in the first place. It is a routine traffic stop." At the time of this report only the lawyers had seen this footage; it was not yet available to the public.

Footage from the jail the morning Bland was found dead in her cell was released to the public Monday. The footage shows no one going in or out of the cell the morning Bland was found dead. Police station records show she attempted to make a phone call around an hour before her death but the call never went through.

The investigation into Bland’s death will be treated as a murder investigation, the presiding district attorney said Monday, according to CNN.