*Two more suspects have died in police custody in the past 10 days in Houston, Reuters reports.
As the nation focuses on the death of 28-year-old African American woman Sandra Bland, who was found hanging in a jail cell in a nearby county after being booked for a traffic stop, a 29-year-old woman charged with public intoxication was found unresponsive on Sunday as she was being booked at a Houston jail.
The woman later died at a hospital, Houston police said on Tuesday. The Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said the woman was Jami Gaubatz, with her race listed as white.
“As is customary in in-custody deaths, this incident is being investigated by the Houston Police Department Homicide and Internal Affairs Divisions,” it said.
An autopsy was being performed and results have not yet been released. Police said jail personnel tried to perform CPR on the woman but did not provide further details of the death.
In the other Houston incident, a man who police said showed sign of mental distress was seen by an officer at a Houston convenience store on July 18 bleeding from his head, police said.
Police tried to get medical help for the man who later charged the officer, leading to a struggle. After police backup arrived, the man was apprehended and placed in an ambulance for treatment. He became unconscious in the ambulance and was pronounced dead at a Houston hospital, police said.
The man was 59-year-old African-American Billy Davis, the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences said.
The most prominent incident in Texas this month has been the death of Bland in Waller County, about 50 miles northwest of Houston. She was found hanged in a county jail cell days after her July 10 arrest following a minor traffic offense, an incident activists have said is yet another example of police brutality toward minorities.
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