- UPDATED: See video from the stop.
- Video: DPS Officer Became Enraged Over Cigarette
- State jail commission cites Waller County officials after investigating Sandra Bland's death
- Violations cited in arrest, custody of woman in Waller County Jail
- Advocates press for details in Waller County Jail death
- Texas Rangers investigating death of woman in police custody
- FBI joins investigation into death of Waller County inmate
- Texas trooper in traffic stop violated policy
- Texas woman 'in good spirits' before jail death, friend says
- State Sen. Royce West calls on DPS to release video of woman’s traffic stop
- Waller County DA: Bland's death won't be 'swept under the rug'
- Community reacts to death inside Waller County Jail
- Locals hold vigil, grapple with Sandra Bland's death
- Waller County Texas Sheriff Had Been Fired For Racist Remarks Before Chicago Woman Was Found Dead
- The Texas county where Sandra Bland died is fraught with racial tentions
- Woman Found Dead In Waller County Jail Cell Suffered with Depression, PTSD
- Officials decry some [social media] posts in Texas jail death
- What we know about Sandra Bland, who died this week in a Texas jail
- Sandra Bland mourned from Illinois to Texas
- On Twitter: #SandraBland
Sunday, July 19, 2015
Roundup: The contested, alleged suicide of Sandra Bland in the Waller County Jail
Your preoccupied correspondent had not until this morning read the voluminous press surrounding Sandra Bland's untimely and unlikely suicide in the Waller County Jail last weekend. For those, like me, playing catchup on the story, here's a sampling from the barrage of coverage:
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25 comments:
Have you read about the Tyler Police debacle surrounding the 85-year old stolen parrot? Another case of LEOs making their own reputation. I hope not to hear them complaining about it.
Add this to the list ..
Prosecutor investigating Sandra Bland’s death has troubling history of racial bias — just like the sheriff
http://www.rawstory.com/2015/07/prosecutor-investigating-sandra-blands-death-has-troubling-history-of-racial-bias-just-like-the-sheriff/
I was hoping to hear from you regarding this situation Grits. I know you are pretty level headed and I trust your judgement.
IMHO:
Although the Waller County officials will not ever let the truth out about this. It is quite apparent to me that this lady was murdered at the hands of the LEO's or jailers. Were I a betting man I would bet on the Jailers but I digress.
She was killed in custody, we all know that it is evident and no one will be held to account. The person (s) responsible will never miss a supper with Momma because that is how things work here.
I really hate that this happened, It is a stain on the heart of our State
I don't understand why she was asked to get out of her car. She was pulled over for not signalling a lane change. Was she disrespectful to the trooper? Did she not put out her cigarette quick enough for the trooper? Whatever the reason for her ending up thrown on the ground had little to do with her violation of not signalling to change lanes and more to do with the trooper's ego. Was he demanding her respect? Who cares if she didn't respect him, give her the ticket and go on. Texas law officers have been allowed much discretion in traffic stops, in the name of officer safety, and because of it, think they can do whatever they want when they pull someone over. This woman would still be alive if the trooper hadn't abused his power in the first place.
The next time I get pulled over, the first thing I'm going to do, is lock my doors and I'm white.
Homeless Cowboy,
I wouldn't put money on them getting away with this one.
After reviewing the tapes and talking to a Waller CO official and a representative of the family, here's some of what I noted.
The DPS Officer made an "illegal u-turn" before what appears to be him "speeding" to overtaking Ms.Bland, who upon see him approaching, moved quickly to the right lane so he could pass.
In the jail video the sheriff points out to the reporters, that Ms. Bland's dinner was still on the bedside table, because she did not eat it, but there is not any sign of the breakfast container allegedly delivered to her cell at 7 a.m. Additionally, the sheriff states she hung herself using the trash bag in her cell, yet that trash bag is still in the trash can. The sheriff also stated Ms. Bland hung herself behind the bathroom partition, yet the jailer was able to ascertain this by looking thru a little window in the door for about 2 seconds.
Based on the above and more information, that I won't go into now, it is my belief Ms. Bland became unresponsive sometime Sunday afternoon and the Sheriff left her in her cell to died unattended.
On top that, if the main reason was to arrest her for not putting out a cigarette, I'm curious as to why the officer chose to allow her to walk off vs. cuffing her in plain view of the dash cam.
Taking her off camera in order to body slam her for not complying and having the nerve to ask questions, in addition to not calling for an ambulance to check her out prior to transporting and no record of any jail medical staff checking her for possible brain swelling every hour due to claiming she couldn't hear and her ears were ringing will result in another taxpayers funded bribery that makes the family go away. The family's lawyer will take his cut and poof it never happened.
Sandra got it right - a pussy ass cop. It may seem to be a race issue, but in Texas, you don't have to be black for the cops to treat you like this. Liars and Bullies wearing badges.
Cops - I'm sure some of them are good people, you just have to look really hard to find them. But then even the good ones cover for the bad ones so I guess that makes them all bad.
I generally don't see much of a news story here. It appears she hung herself, but understand that the family would like more answers.
11:05AM - I suspect she was moved off to the right of the cars and not allowed to remain between the (patrol & her) car was for both their safety. Patrol cars are occasionally rear ended by drunks, old folks, those texting, etc... forcing the patrol car into the back of the car being stopped...causing injury or death to the motorist/officer. YouTube has many examples. If possible, officers try and take that out of the equation unless she immediately wanted to fight or sobriety tests were needed. Cameras in patrol vehicles do not automatically move, but can be manually adjusted.
I could see deescalating the situation as the best approach on both their sides. Both should have show the other a little respect. Two hard heads...
Taking her off camera in order to body slam her for not complying and having the nerve to ask questions, in addition to not calling for an ambulance to check her out prior to transporting and no record of any jail medical staff checking her for possible brain swelling every hour due to claiming she couldn't hear and her ears were ringing will result in another taxpayers funded bribery that makes the family go away. The family's lawyer will take his cut and poof it never happened.
Had the situation evolved between the cars with the patrol car getting rear ended; it would still be the officers fault for her injury or death?
As previously stated by the medical examiner, her death was caused by her hanging her self. Not a news story.
Bottom line (sad - yes) - Two hard heads, but not a conspiracy.
This is yet another example of an epidemic that has been a plague within our country for much too long. Law enforcement officials running rampant and misusing and overusing their authority upon the citizens. There obviously is a need for law enforcement officers in our society -- but things have equally obviously gotten out of control.
This is not Nazi Germany, Communist Russia, North Korea but some of the tactics that our tax paid officers use sure do come close to those authoritative regimes methods. No citizen of our American society should fear the police -- at all! But we do, and it is not just Black people or Hispanic people, we all do. That needs to stop. Just how to do that is a question that may be hard to answer.
For one thing, there is tremendous pressure to fill the burgeoning private jails and prisons that corporations are reaping in millions from. Follow the freaking money trail and you will uncover all manner of corruption, collusion and conspiracy.
The mentality of the training of our law enforcement officers is such that they view the general public in an adversarial point of view. Yes, there are "bad guys" out there that would like to kill cops but statistically how often does something like that really occur? Cops do tend to target certain people and their paranoia towards citizens as a whole helps escalate situations. Their desire to "be respected and obeyed" also helps escalate situations -- not all cops are like this but certainly enough as is evidenced by the large number of recent escalation events that have been in the news lately.
The sad thing is that this has been going on for many, many years and only with the advent of modern technology has the awareness been pretty much impossible for the bad actors to conceal any longer.
Here's my take!!! I was taught that if an law enforcement officer stops you, follow their directions!!!! I saw the video, she didn't do what she was told to do!!! Who's fault was this ? Hers!!!!! End of story. Also people do weird stuff in Prison and jail. As for Georges comments, try to be a law enforcement officer on patrol!
I have been a law enforcement officer on patrol. There is blame on both sides of this incident. Yes, this lady acted in a way that she should not have. However, had the officer acted professionally and maintained his composure, the situation would never have escalated the way it did. There was no need to get her out of the car. He should have simply given her the ticket and let her go on her way. The only reason he wanted her to get out was because she was not giving him the respect he felt he deserved. Unfortunately, it appears that they are no longer teaching police officers how to deal with hostile people-or perhaps they are teaching them the wrong way to deal with them. Had he remained calm and kept his composure and simply continued to communicate with the lady, I have no doubt she would have calmed down and been cooperate. But, he matched her tone and they both escalated each other. Yes, some of the blame is hers. But, police officers are supposed to be professional are supposed to be able to maintain their composure in difficult situations. But, today it seems instead of being taught to deescalate situations they are taught to assert their authority to bring their subjects under their command and to mandate strict obedience to their every word. Before I worked in law enforcement I worked for child protective services. Every day I would knock on doors to tell people I was there to investigate allegations of child abuse or neglect. It was not unusual for people to have an initial angry reaction. I didn't have a gun or the authority to arrest anyone, yet, I was able to get people to calm down and cooperate. The officer in this case should not be allowed back on the streets until he has been taught how to deal with difficult people in these types of situations and has demonstrated he can do so.
This arrest was a prime example of "contempt of cop." These seem to be common place nowadays.
Another thing, just because courts have said an officer "can" order a person out of the car doesn't mean they need to. If the reason for ordering the person out of the car is simply because the officer has been offended by the person's attitude, that officer needs some retraining. Just because the courts allow something doesn't mean it is always the reasonable or the right thing to do. To the officers out there-use your common sense, don't make a situation worse just because your ego has been offended. Arguing that the courts allow you to do something to justify throwing your weight around to protect your ego is simply stupid.
To those officers who say this officer had the right to have her get out of the car - well- lets think about this. A citizen has the right to express his or her displeasure with the government to a government official. This even extends to cursing. So, she had the right to do what she was doing and he had the right to do what he was doing. In this situation, two rights certainly made a wrong. Just because you have the right to do something doesn't make that the right thing to do in a particular situation. She was exercising her right to express her feelings towards a government official. In reaction, he exercised his right to have her exit the vehicle. She was wrong, he was wrong. Unfortunately, there was an imbalance of power. The officer clearly decided to arrest her before she committed a crime for which she could be arrested. He was going to arrest her as soon as he got her out of the car. I believe he said she was under arrest around that time-before she had kicked him, as he claims. So, he was going to arrest her for exercising her right to complain to and criticize a government official. The thought that citizens are now being arrested for criticizing the government should scare the hell out of all of us.
Initial toxicology reports a high level of marjijuana in her system and cuts consistent with hesitation wounds that were a few weeks old.
This Officer was after her before a violation was committed. He saw her going the opposite direction and noticed her out of state, Illinois plates. He made a u turn and sped in a 20 mph zone in order to close in on her. She, assuming he was in a hurry to go after someone else quickly changed lanes to let him through...violation.
His video is edited to remove statements which make him look bad. They claim the anomalies in the video occurred during the download process...bull! If that were the case they could have gotten the original from the hard drive or the DVD in the recorder. If this was not still available it is most likely because the originals have been destroyed intentionally.
I don't know about the responsibility for the death, but this cop does not have the temperament to continue to work as a cop. She was biting her tongue and did not complain until he insisted she tell him why she was not happy with him. Then he gets butt hurt, smarts off and asks her if she is finished after she has calmly told him why she was disturbed with him. Then he continues to escalate by getting pissy about her cigarette which was not previously a problem for him. He was just retaliating because she was calling him on his bullshit stop (they he decided he would make before the violation). If she killed herself he pushed a fragile person over the edge and violated his department's policy in numerous ways to do it. If she died from neglect or was killed hopefully the investigation will get to the truth. Regardless this cop needs to find other work with much less authority vested in him.
Brad Walters.
Well if these officers had better leadership, the good ones would be more abundant.
Blessings.
Two hard heads; one a uniformed professional. That's who was in charge. Encinia should of thought of his whole organization and not his pride. Aggies know how to be respectful, so I thought.
It does scare me. I was told by a white, male business owner that while I ate in his restaurant and complained that some staff got my order wrong because they did not English. He decided that my clothing scared his staff. And told me he reported me to the police. so i cried. Yes because just because I voiced my view on undocumented workers the police ete given my name.
I agree. What happened to #sandrabland by Encinia was highly irregular. I bet his family is praying for him and telling him everything will be ok. Encinia knew the truth. He knew he was done. Moron.
Yes mam. Waller County...the truth will not be easy to find.
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