The Texas state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland — a woman who died in a county jail last summer, prompting protests across the country — was formally fired on Wednesday, authorities said.
Steven C. McCraw, head of the Texas Department of Public Safety, wrote a letter to Encinia in late January telling him that he was being fired because he “failed to remain courteous and tactful” during the stop and prolonged Bland’s detention without a legitimate reason. This week, McCraw wrote another letter to Encinia informing him that the firing was official.
“I have determined that you have not rebutted the charges…No cause has been presented to alter my preliminary decision,” McCraw wrote in the letter.
Encinia, who was placed on administrative duty last summer, can appeal the firing, the department said. An attorney for Encinia told the Houston Chronicle that the decision was disappointing but not surprising, adding that they would appeal the decision.
The former trooper was indicted by a Waller County grand jury on Jan. 6 on a perjury charge stemming from his probable-cause statement about the traffic stop that ended with Bland’s arrest, the special prosecutors said. He faces up to a year in jail and a fine.
“He said he pulled Sandra Bland from the car in order to further his traffic stop investigation,” Darrell Jordan, a defense attorney from Houston who was one of the special prosecutors, told The Washington Post at the time. “The grand jury did not believe that statement to be true and returned a true bill.”
A grand jury had decided in December not to indict anyone for Bland’s death, which drew national attention and outrage after she was found dead in a jail cell.
Bland’s death was one of several high-profile incidents that in recent years have prompted scrutiny over the way police officers treat black Americans.
Authorities deemed her death a suicide, something her family and friends have questioned. She died three days after getting pulled over for failing to signal a lane change and being jailed on assault charges. Footage of the traffic stop showed Encinia ordering Bland out of the car after she questioned his request that she put out her cigarette.
When Bland refused, the video shows the former trooper opening the door, trying to pull Bland out of the car and threatening her with a Taser.
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