Video shows how Texas traffic stop escalated into confrontation

[webfact]

Video shows how traffic stop escalated into confrontation
By MICHAEL GRACZYK

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yf8GR3OO9mU
Dashcam video posted by Texas Department of Public Safety

HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) — A police dashboard video released Tuesday shows that a Texas state trooper drew a stun gun on a black motorist and said, "I will light you up" when the woman refused to get out of her car during a routine traffic stop.

The roadside encounter between the trooper and the driver swiftly escalated into a shouting confrontation as the officer tried to pull 28-year-old Sandra Bland from her vehicle. Days later, she was found dead in jail in a case that has caused her family and supporters to dispute whether she hanged herself with a plastic garbage bag in her cell, as authorities have said.

The video posted by the Texas Department of Public Safety shows the trooper stopping Bland for failure to signal a lane change. After he hands her a written warning, the trooper remarks that Bland seemed irritated. The Illinois woman replies that she is irritated because she had changed lanes to make way for the trooper's car.

The conversation quickly turns hostile when the officer asks Bland to put out her cigarette and she asks why she can't smoke in her own car. The trooper then orders Bland to get out of the vehicle. She refuses, and he tells her she is under arrest.

Further refusals to get out bring a threat from the trooper to drag her out. He then pulls out a stun gun and makes the threat about lighting Bland up.

When she finally steps out of the vehicle, the trooper orders her to the side of the road. There, the confrontation continues off-camera but is still audible. The two keep yelling at each other as the officer tries to put Bland in handcuffs and waits for other troopers to arrive.

Out of the camera's view, Bland goes on protesting her arrest, repeatedly using expletives and calling the officer a "pussy." At one point, she screams that he's about to break her wrists and complains that he knocked her head into the ground.

The trooper said in an affidavit that after handcuffing her for becoming combative, she swung her elbows at him and kicked him in his right shin.

In the affidavit released Tuesday, trooper Brian Encinia said he then used force "to subdue Bland to the ground," and she continued to fight back. He arrested her for assault on a public servant.

The trooper has been placed on administrative leave for violating unspecified police procedures and the Department of Public Safety's courtesy policy. The agency would not address questions about whether the trooper acted appropriately by drawing his stun gun or pulling her out of the vehicle.

"Regardless of the situation, it doesn't matter where it happens, a DPS state trooper has got an obligation to exhibit professionalism and be courteous ... and that wasn't the case in this situation," said Steven McCraw, the department director.

Encinia has been a trooper for just over a year.

Bland was taken to the Waller County Jail about 60 miles northwest of Houston on July 10 and found dead July 13. A Texas Rangers investigation into her death is being supervised by the FBI.

Although a medical examiner has ruled Bland's death a suicide, supporters insist she was upbeat and looking forward to a new job at Prairie View A&M University, where she graduated in 2009. Bland's family and clergy members have called for a Justice Department probe, and an independent autopsy has been ordered.

However, Bland posted a video to her Facebook page in March, saying she was suffering from "a little bit of depression as well as PTSD," or post-traumatic stress disorder. Family members have said nothing in her background suggested she was mentally troubled, and at least one friend said she was just venting after a bad day.

Her death comes after nearly a year of heightened national scrutiny of police and their dealings with black suspects who have been killed by officers.

The case has resonated on social media, with posts questioning the official account and featuring the hashtags #JusticeForSandy and #WhatHappenedToSandyBland. Others referred to #SandySpeaks, the hashtag Bland used in monologues she posted on Facebook in which she talked about police brutality and said she had a calling from God to speak out against racism and injustice.

Court records show Bland had several encounters with police in both Illinois and Texas over the past decade, including repeated traffic stops and two arrests for drunk driving, one of which was later dismissed.

She was also charged twice with possession of a small amount of marijuana. A 2009 case was dismissed, but she pleaded guilty last year to the other charge and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

A decade earlier, in June 2004, Bland was charged with one count of retail theft of less than $150 in Elmhurst, Illinois. She pleaded guilty and was fined.

The Waller County Sheriff's Office has acknowledged violating state rules on jail training and the monitoring of inmates.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards last week cited the jail for not providing documents proving that jailers in the past year had undergone training on interacting with inmates who are mentally disabled or potentially suicidal.

The citation also showed that jailers fell short by not observing inmates in person at least once every hour.

The sheriff's office said Friday in a statement that jailers checked on Bland via intercom on one occasion rather than in person.

Commission Executive Director Brandon Wood has declined to say if the citation is related to Bland's death. But sheriff's officials mention her when explaining the violations, noting that they don't believe "either one of these deficiencies had any part in the death of Ms. Bland."


-- (c) Associated Press 2015-07-22

[Just1Voice]

This ignorant woman brought this all on herself with her belligerent and defiant attitude. Not to mention her ignorance in how to deal with police. A real upstanding citizen here:

Court records show Bland had several encounters with police in both Illinois and Texas over the past decade, including repeated traffic stops and two arrests for drunk driving, one of which was later dismissed.

She was also charged twice with possession of a small amount of marijuana. A 2009 case was dismissed, but she pleaded guilty last year to the other charge and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

A decade earlier, in June 2004, Bland was charged with one count of retail theft of less than $150 in Elmhurst, Illinois. She pleaded guilty and was fined.

She was an accident in the making.

[SOTIRIOS]

...no...this is not right....

..never mind history...or any other bs....

...there was no reason to arrest her....

...nor for her to end up dead in the cell....

[sfokevin]

Here's how a white guy is treated...

https://www.facebook.com/scott.m.johnson.98/videos/58246129343/

Edited July 22, 2015 by sfokevin

[stevenl]

This ignorant woman brought this all on herself with her belligerent and defiant attitude. Not to mention her ignorance in how to deal with police. A real upstanding citizen here:

Court records show Bland had several encounters with police in both Illinois and Texas over the past decade, including repeated traffic stops and two arrests for drunk driving, one of which was later dismissed.

She was also charged twice with possession of a small amount of marijuana. A 2009 case was dismissed, but she pleaded guilty last year to the other charge and was sentenced to 30 days in jail.

A decade earlier, in June 2004, Bland was charged with one count of retail theft of less than $150 in Elmhurst, Illinois. She pleaded guilty and was fined.

She was an accident in the making.

Hmm, shouldn't it be the other way round? Shouldn't the police know how to deal with (sometimes unwilling) citizens?

Prime example of how a police officer managed to let an every day situation get completely out of hand by being abusive and obtrusive.

[IAMHERE]

What has the video to do with her committing suicide days later ? I'd bet she pissed off some fellow inmate that didn't have the same training as the police.

[impulse]

Here's how a white guy is treated...

That guy has some moves...

I'd have failed her tests miserably, and I haven't had a drink since the '80s.

[HerbalEd]

What has the video to do with her committing suicide days later ? I'd bet she pissed off some fellow inmate that didn't have the same training as the police.

She was alone in her own cell. How does your "bet" account for how fellow inmate(s) managed to hang her inside her locked cell?

[BuaBS]

Lots of video's about police stops , some are very disturbing . I'd rather watch a ISIS beheading video.

[chuckd]

I once had an employee in Saudi Arabia that had an angry wife living in our compound.

She lit into me one day using much of the same language as this young lady did with the Highway Patrolman.

I exercised remarkable restraint and simply walked away from her.

That evening I called her husband into my office and told him if she ever talked to me like that again, I would have exit only visas in their passports and he would be unemployed and on the way home, along with his wife, within 24 hours.

She never said another word to me for the next five years.

This young lady wasn't exactly pure and innocent in her choice of words nor her attitude.

Did the Patrolman overreact? Probably.

But what would you have done under the very same circumstances?

Rhetorical question.

[ToddinChonburi]

Can you say a little unstable, this is the attitude that will get you arrested everytime

[MaeJoMTB]

Vicious bully brutalizes a slightly unstable young woman.

Being beaten and jailed for a minor traffic offence, totally out of order.

Dying in jail as a result, complete incompetence on everyone's part.

A lot of people employed by the county need to lose their jobs over this bit of nonsense.

This should include every official that interacted with this woman (from traffic violation until death) and their supervisors.

[chuckd]

Why not just have the Air Force bomb the city of Hempstead.

That would cover everybody in this atrocity.

[stevenl]

I once had an employee in Saudi Arabia that had an angry wife living in our compound.

She lit into me one day using much of the same language as this young lady did with the Highway Patrolman.

I exercised remarkable restraint and simply walked away from her.

That evening I called her husband into my office and told him if she ever talked to me like that again, I would have exit only visas in their passports and he would be unemployed and on the way home, along with his wife, within 24 hours.

She never said another word to me for the next five years.

This young lady wasn't exactly pure and innocent in her choice of words nor her attitude.

Did the Patrolman overreact? Probably.

But what would you have done under the very same circumstances?

Rhetorical question.

Sure she did, and I also don't believe her reason for changing lanes without signalling.

But her behaviour deteriorated after the police officer told her to put out her cigarette (why?) and was getting abusive for really no reason at all. In this case it was clearly the officer who provoked her reactions.

[impulse]

Did the Patrolman overreact? Probably.

But what would you have done under the very same circumstances?

Rhetorical question.

Doesn't matter what I would have done. Texas DPS has a code of conduct, and he violated it.

Pleases me that the DPS has laid down the law- treat the public with respect- even in they're.... Yankees.

[chuckd]

I once had an employee in Saudi Arabia that had an angry wife living in our compound.

She lit into me one day using much of the same language as this young lady did with the Highway Patrolman.

I exercised remarkable restraint and simply walked away from her.

That evening I called her husband into my office and told him if she ever talked to me like that again, I would have exit only visas in their passports and he would be unemployed and on the way home, along with his wife, within 24 hours.

She never said another word to me for the next five years.

This young lady wasn't exactly pure and innocent in her choice of words nor her attitude.

Did the Patrolman overreact? Probably.

But what would you have done under the very same circumstances?

Rhetorical question.

Sure she did, and I also don't believe her reason for changing lanes without signalling.

But her behaviour deteriorated after the police officer told her to put out her cigarette (why?) and was getting abusive for really no reason at all. In this case it was clearly the officer who provoked her reactions.

Go to the video above.

At the 1:15 mark you will notice her running a stop sign and turning onto the main road.

The Patrolman turns around and, at the 1:29 mark you will clearly see there is an octagonal shaped stop sign at the corner, as he makes his U-turn.

He then follows her until she changes lanes without signaling and then pulls her over.

That's two moving traffic violations in the space of less than two minutes.

It seems he was prepared to give her a warning only for the lane change violation until she got wordy with him.

He had just released another young lady with a warning only and was pleasant with her. I seriously doubt she used abusive language with him or she night have gone to jail as well. She handled the stop properly. So did he.

This second young lady had a chip on her shoulder and she wasn't about to let some cop tell her what to do.

She should have put out her cigarette when he ASKED her to and gotten out of the car. She refused to do either and is dead as a result of her suicide.

[stevenl]

I once had an employee in Saudi Arabia that had an angry wife living in our compound.

She lit into me one day using much of the same language as this young lady did with the Highway Patrolman.

I exercised remarkable restraint and simply walked away from her.

That evening I called her husband into my office and told him if she ever talked to me like that again, I would have exit only visas in their passports and he would be unemployed and on the way home, along with his wife, within 24 hours.

She never said another word to me for the next five years.

This young lady wasn't exactly pure and innocent in her choice of words nor her attitude.

Did the Patrolman overreact? Probably.

But what would you have done under the very same circumstances?

Rhetorical question.

Sure she did, and I also don't believe her reason for changing lanes without signalling.

But her behaviour deteriorated after the police officer told her to put out her cigarette (why?) and was getting abusive for really no reason at all. In this case it was clearly the officer who provoked her reactions.

Go to the video above.

At the 1:15 mark you will notice her running a stop sign and turning onto the main road.

The Patrolman turns around and, at the 1:29 mark you will clearly see there is an octagonal shaped stop sign at the corner, as he makes his U-turn.

He then follows her until she changes lanes without signaling and then pulls her over.

That's two moving traffic violations in the space of less than two minutes.

It seems he was prepared to give her a warning only for the lane change violation until she got wordy with him.

He had just released another young lady with a warning only and was pleasant with her. I seriously doubt she used abusive language with him or she night have gone to jail as well. She handled the stop properly. So did he.

This second young lady had a chip on her shoulder and she wasn't about to let some cop tell her what to do.

She should have put out her cigarette when he ASKED her to and gotten out of the car. She refused to do either and is dead as a result of her suicide.

As I said, I don't believe her excuse, but you still find it necessary to point out she was in the wrong. I agree with you she was in the wrong.

But no, he did never intend to let her of with a warning, he straight away started with the citation. It all went wrong when he asked her why she was irritated and did not like her answer. After that he is the one who instigates one problem after the other, not her, she is only reacting to him. And he did not ASK her to put out her cigarette, he ordered her. Why, that is none of his business.

Even the police department admitted his behaviour was wrong, but you're still trying to blame her. Wrong.

[Seastallion]

I once had an employee in Saudi Arabia that had an angry wife living in our compound.

She lit into me one day using much of the same language as this young lady did with the Highway Patrolman.

I exercised remarkable restraint and simply walked away from her.

That evening I called her husband into my office and told him if she ever talked to me like that again, I would have exit only visas in their passports and he would be unemployed and on the way home, along with his wife, within 24 hours.

She never said another word to me for the next five years.

This young lady wasn't exactly pure and innocent in her choice of words nor her attitude.

Did the Patrolman overreact? Probably.

But what would you have done under the very same circumstances?

Rhetorical question.

You would summarily sack somebody for the actions of another person?

With that sort of abuse of power attitude, something tells me the poor chap's wife may have had very good reason to mouth off at you.

The cop asked her why she was irritated. She told him...and that irritated the cop. She didn't want to put out her ciggie (her right...not under arrest and in her car)...and that irritated the cop to the point of ordering her out of the car and arresting her...

Power-hungry men abusing their power all over the world.

[sabaii69]

You don't mess with Texas unless you want a beat down. Guilty of driving black

[Seastallion]

Vicious bully brutalizes a slightly unstable young woman.

Being beaten and jailed for a minor traffic offence, totally out of order.

Dying in jail as a result, complete incompetence on everyone's part.

A lot of people employed by the county need to lose their jobs over this bit of nonsense.

This should include every official that interacted with this woman (from traffic violation until death) and their supervisors.

No, he arrested her for not getting out of the car when he ordered her to for not putting out her ciggie.

It is a right to question the police.

Why do you want me to put out my ciggie?...I'm not under arrest and I'm in my car.

Why are you arresting me?

These are valid questions and the cop should have answered them and not escalated things.

I suspect that the cop, like other power-hungry men abusing the power bestowed upon them, has inferiority issues.

[Asiantravel]

I once had an employee in Saudi Arabia that had an angry wife living in our compound.

She lit into me one day using much of the same language as this young lady did with the Highway Patrolman.

I exercised remarkable restraint and simply walked away from her.

That evening I called her husband into my office and told him if she ever talked to me like that again, I would have exit only visas in their passports and he would be unemployed and on the way home, along with his wife, within 24 hours.

She never said another word to me for the next five years.

This young lady wasn't exactly pure and innocent in her choice of words nor her attitude.

Did the Patrolman overreact? Probably.

But what would you have done under the very same circumstances?

Rhetorical question.

You would summarily sack somebody for the actions of another person?

With that sort of abuse of power attitude, something tells me the poor chap's wife may have had very good reason to mouth off at you.

The cop asked her why she was irritated. She told him...and that irritated the cop. She didn't want to put out her ciggie (her right...not under arrest and in her car)...and that irritated the cop to the point of ordering her out of the car and arresting her...

Power-hungry men abusing their power all over the world.

oh come on. there is nothing power hungry about this state trooper

he even asked her if she was ok?

And why should he be subjected to her cigarette smoke while he is going through the procedures at the car window?

[metisdead]

Another post containing an aberrant misspelling of the state of Texas has been removed, again.

[sgtsabai]

I almost missed this. It was right wing nut Texas Attorney General and now gubnor Abbott that defended the students right to vote. Maybe he thought they would still be voting Republican, for certain he wouldn't do it now.

[sgtsabai]

I'm sure most of you have never been to Waller County or Hempstead. I don't know how the students at Prairie View A&M manage to survive 4 yrs. of college. I've been there, used to see a lady that lived just outside the town of Waller. Talk about rednecks, how she lived there I don't know either because she was not one of majority of racist rednecks in that part of the woods. Even passing through on 290 that place was scary because of the cops, never mind having to go through town. If you are from out of town (license plates) and white it is still scary. The lady should have known better, having graduated from Prairie View. One never defends oneself against the DPS or any other cop in Texas. I'm sure that in her lifetime she had had enough abuse from white cops. While she should have known better, that is no excuse for the abusive cop or her death. Plenty of black people commit "suicide" in Texas jails. A little history on Waller county. http://r.duckduckgo.com/l/?kh=-1&uddg=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.theatlantic.com%2Fpolitics%2Farchive%2F2015%2F07%2Fsandra-bland-waller-county-racism%2F398975%2F Please note that for some strange reason the stops of black people in Texas and Waller county. I was surprised.

[Seastallion]

I once had an employee in Saudi Arabia that had an angry wife living in our compound.

She lit into me one day using much of the same language as this young lady did with the Highway Patrolman.

I exercised remarkable restraint and simply walked away from her.

That evening I called her husband into my office and told him if she ever talked to me like that again, I would have exit only visas in their passports and he would be unemployed and on the way home, along with his wife, within 24 hours.

She never said another word to me for the next five years.

This young lady wasn't exactly pure and innocent in her choice of words nor her attitude.

Did the Patrolman overreact? Probably.

But what would you have done under the very same circumstances?

Rhetorical question.

You would summarily sack somebody for the actions of another person?

With that sort of abuse of power attitude, something tells me the poor chap's wife may have had very good reason to mouth off at you.

The cop asked her why she was irritated. She told him...and that irritated the cop. She didn't want to put out her ciggie (her right...not under arrest and in her car)...and that irritated the cop to the point of ordering her out of the car and arresting her...

Power-hungry men abusing their power all over the world.

oh come on. there is nothing power hungry about this state trooper

he even asked her if she was ok?

And why should he be subjected to her cigarette smoke while he is going through the procedures at the car window?

Bless you for being a glass half full guy...but the cop is being power hungry.

He had done all his duty and given her the warning. But then he seemed to bait her, and on the pretext of her questioning him, he escalated things.

He started off nice, indeed. There was no need for him to do anything after he had finished his duty.

[Fullstop]

I don't care what you all say ... the cop was way over the top. Blatant and unnecessary abuse of power ... for no real reason. I'd have resisted the tosser too.

It all seemed to escalate when he asked her to put out her ciggie. ? It's not illegal! He was just being an Ass*ole. That would get my hackles up too! *k him!

Jesus H Christ! .. Look how fast he caught up with her after a few blocks and turns! He was bloody following her! He was STALKING HER AT HIGH SPEED! He ZOOMED right up her tail .. obviously freaking her out a little ... she changes lanes to let the idiot past and forgets to signal .... he pulls her over and escalates the whole thing into an unnecessary drama.

IDIOT COP!

Edited July 22, 2015 by Fullstop

[Nuddy]

The cop is Wrong

They even messed with the video

They took her away from video sight

The "boys" were probably forcibly bonking her.

The cops were wrong. All of them

If I was the Judge I would have every one of those cops supeanored to court and interrogated thereunder oath.

They would all lie and If as judge I suspected that I would jail them long time.

They messed with the video, they took her out of sight of the video and they were wrong from the very start.

My opinion is the cops in that video were not doing their duty correctly.

Regards

[oneday]

As someone else pointed out, the onus is on the police to be more tolerant and understanding of the public, given that the police are trained and the public is not. Everyone hates a cop that feels he can give orders like a God, such as putting out a cigarette. I've never heard of a law that says, "everything a cop tells you to do is the law and must be obeyed". Most people will obey a reasonable order/request, but I can easily see where she was coming from. She was ready and primed to fight and he knew it.

Everything was reasonably OK and it was almost over when the cop asked her to put her cigarette out. He absolutely knew that would push her buttons and he got what he wanted, he was expecting it. I hate cigarettes, but from my point of view that officer had no right to ask that she put the cigarette out and then turn it into a crime by not doing so. It was if he thought that was a lawful order so he felt he had a right to make her step out of the car and escalate it to a new level. That was over-the-top and I can understand her getting indignant. Of course, I can't and won't defend the rest of what she did.

...dying in jail...highly, highly suspicious.

Edited July 22, 2015 by oneday

[cheapcanuck]

Why not just have the Air Force bomb the city of Hempstead.

That would cover everybody in this atrocity.

mustard gas the lot of them...that would do the trick ?

[asean]

The cop was totally out of line. You can see at 9.07 that his small penis ego couldn't handle the woman. He snapped. She was being quite reasonable up to then. The situation escalated totally because of him. He does not have what it takes to handle the public. And yes when you are a young black woman and you find yourself handcuffed, head bashed on the ground and locked up in jail because you moved over for a white cop to pass and you forgot to indicate yes you will feel a sense of hopeless despair that might be enough to send an already fragile person over the edge.