Hundreds attend Sandra Bland funeral

Local politicians and citizens lined up for more than an hour in front of the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle, Illinois, to mourn the death of 28-year-old Sandra Bland.

"This is not a moment of defeat, this is an hour of victory," said Reverend James Miller, who led the funeral service. "We are not funeralizing a martyr or a victim, we are celebrating a hero." The congregation sang songs of praise and spoke in Bland's honor.

Bland was stopped by a white police officer on July 10 near Prairie View, northwest of Houston, Texas for failing to signal a lane change. The stop led to an argument, and Bland was charged with assaulting an officer.

Three days later Bland was found dead, hanging in her cell with a plastic trash bag around her neck.

An autopsy by the medical examiner's office in Harris County, Texas, confirmed that Bland had committed suicide. But her family has insisted otherwise.

"That baby did not take herself out of here," said Geneva Reed-Veal, Bland's mother, speaking at the funeral. "I'm the momma and I still want to know what happened to my baby." The family acknowledged that Bland had been struggling with depression but doubted she would go so far as to take her own life, pointing out that she was passionate about civil rights and excited about a new job.

The Texas state trooper has meanwhile been relegated to desk duty.

Illinois politicians US Senator Dick Durbin and US Representative Bill Foster said they were calling for a full investigation into Bland's death.

A dashboard video of the traffic stop and a video taken by a bystander, which showed the trooper forcing Bland to the ground as they argued, have both been publicized on social media. Users have connected it with cases involving confrontations between US police officers and other African-Americans over the past year.

mg/cmk (AP, Reuters)