A coroner’s report released last week ruled Sandra Bland’s death a suicide. Now, two women who were with her in jail are telling reporters they also believe her death was suicide.
Alexandra Pyle was the first inmate to come forward, The Blaze reports, and spoke with Houston’s KTRK. She said she was in the cell next to Bland’s, and attempted to comfort her:
“I was like, ‘It’s OK, don’t cry. It can’t rain all the time, it will be all right.'”
Bland talked to Pyle through a small opening between the cells for the next few days. Bland was upset that her friend LaVaughn Mosley hadn’t shown up to post her bail:
“She said, ‘He’s not answering, it’s going straight to voicemail. I don’t know why, I don’t know why. He said he’s going to be here in an hour, and it’s days later.'”
The reporter asked Pyle if she believed it was suicide. She replied:
“I’m positive it was, but that’s just me….
I don’t think the guards did anything, for sure. I don’t think she should have been in the other tank alone by herself.”
A second woman, who was also in jail at the same time as Bland and Pyle, agreed. The woman, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the station:
“Nobody (the guards) went in or out of her cell during the overnight hours.”
But, she added:
“Sandra Bland was in there for something she didn’t deserve to be in there for, and I think that’s what everyone needs to focus on.
As far as the guards there in the jail, they were really nice. They just did their job.”
Bland’s funeral was held over the weekend in her home state of Illinois.
