A grand jury in Texas indicted the state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland, the 28-year-old black woman who was arrested and later died in a county jail last summer.
The grand jury indicted Trooper Brian Encinia, who arrested Bland during a traffic stop, on a perjury charge, Lewis White, one of the special prosecutors, said Wednesday afternoon.
This decision came a little more than two weeks after the grand jury opted not to indict anyone in connection with Bland's death, which prompted national protests after she was found dead in a jail cell.
"We just asked the public to give us a chance to do our job," White said in a telephone interview Wednesday.
The grand jurors met for several hours on Wednesday before making a decision. Special prosecutors had presented the evidence and left the choice up to the jurors, White said.
White said the perjury charge is a class-A misdeamanor that carries with it possible penalties of one year in jail and a $4,000 fine. He also said it was the only charge that the grand jury would hand down.
Her death was one of several incidents last year that sparked demonstrations and anger over the way police officers treated black Americans. And it came at a time of heightened scrutiny nationwide about how officers use force, particularly lethal force, toward black men and boys.
Authorities said Bland's death was a suicide that occurred three days after she was pulled over for failing to signal a lane change and then jailed on assault charges.
The Texas Department of Public Safety said in a statement after Bland's death that a preliminary review of the traffic stop "identified violations of the department's procedures regarding traffic stops and the department's courtesy policy." Encinia was placed on administrative duty last summer.
The department could not be immediately reached for a comment on the indictment Wednesday.