The jail cell death of black woman in a rural Texas jail after she was arrested at a traffic stop is one of the top social network subjects, according to Lead Stories' Trendolizer. #SandraBland became a top hashtag on Twitter, while news stories about Bland's mysterious death trended on Facebook and elsewhere.
Waller County, Texas, investigators say Sandra Bland, 37, killed herself, but her friends and family suspect a cover up.
Bland had just moved to the community 50 miles north of Houston to take a job at Prairie View A&M University when a Texas state trooper stopped her car for improper signaling a lane change, Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith said.
The Texas Department of Public Safety released the dashcam video of the stop and arrest.
A video posted on YouTube shows a portion of her arrest during which Bland was on the ground and yelling "You just slammed my head into the ground. Do you not even care about that? I can't even hear!"
Watch the video shot by a bystander:
Sheriff Smith said she "combative on the side of the road."
She was jailed Friday morning and held through the weekend. Jail officials said they found her dead in her cell Monday. of "self-inflicted asphyxiation."
Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis told an interviewer "I will admit it is strange someone who had everything going for her would have taken her own life."
Bland's death is spurring an avalanche of stories, including the revelation that Sheriff Smith was fired from a police chief job in Hempstead, Texas, in 2008 because of concerns of racism.
Lead Stories' Trendolizer is all over this story, scouring social networks for the hottest posts about the death of Sandra Bland. Scroll down to see the latest. But remember: Just because it's trending, doesn't mean it's true!
