I have no idea what happened it that jail cell to cause her death but from watching the dash cam and bystander videos it's clear to me that she never should have been arrested. The officer seemed intent on escalating the situation to provoke her into arrest-able behavior. I can't blame folks for being suspicious about the suicide story.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/22/us/texas-sandra-bland-arrest/
I would have complied with the officer and gotten a ticket and been on my way.
The escalation resulted in a higher arresting charge which probably would have to be revealed or explained to her new employer. They probably would have revoked her employment offer.
Also, this speaks volumes on her family situation. No one was able to come help her bond out and instead she was stuck in a jail cell for three days? Shame on the family. she was allowed to make phone calls.
The officer was high-strung, quick to escalate the situation. This hot head needs to be removed from the force but she should not have been so non-compliant from the get go.
For anyone who has followed the details of this case, there are tremendous holes that need to be addressed and don't add up.
If you listened to the dash cam audio video, the following is quite disturbing:
Later in the video, Bland tells Encinia he slammed her head on the ground and she has epilepsy. He responds, "Good."
Here's the entire article http://www.wfaa.com/story/news/local/texas-news/2015/07/21/lt-governor-sen-west-to-meet-blands-family-at-prairie-view/30462805/
The the Texas Department of Public Safety has indicated violations in protocol. From what I've read & heard, this entire situation seems like things don't make sense.
I would put some of the blame on both parties. Bland was uncooperative with the officer and had a pretty bad attitude, but his wasn't much better. He's obviously got a temper problem and should probably find another line of work.
How many times does it need to be said? Nobody likes to get pulled over or deal with the
police, but it's always best just to follow simple requests and keep your mouth shut.
What's remarkable to me is that a cop would lose his deodorant like that with dash cam rolling and recording the whole thing. I guess he forgot when he let his temper get the best of him.
[Edited on 7/23/2015 by alloak41]
Apparently she had other things other than epilepsy, she herself had posted on her Facebook page that she had "a bit of depression and PTSD" back in March, but she was looking forward to starting a new job at her old alma mater, Prairie View A&M University.
Something isn't right. Why was she arrested for failing to signal when making a lane change, isn't that just an offense that should get someone a ticket? Off dashcam camera Bland can be heard protesting her arrest, repeatedly using expletives and insulting the officer. She screams that he's about to break her wrists and complains that he knocked her head into the ground. (after threatening her with the stun gun while she was in the car)
#JusticeForSandy and #WhatHappenedToSandyBland
Remarks: Why does the woman think that she can just refuse to follow a cop's order when he is trying to arrest her?
Why does the cop think he can just use his stun gun on someone who has no weapon when his own life is not at risk just because she does not feel like being arrested.
Since she was argumentative doesn't it seem more likely she would want to get in front of a judge and tell him and the courtroom about her ordeal and make sure the officer was punished rather than allegedly using a plastic garbage bag to take her own life?
Was she a veteran with PTSD from a war?
Initial impressions are it looks like they killed her to shut her up and keep her from suing the police dept. but I'm sure Al Sharpton will be down there demanding an officlal investigation and Obama will probably have to weigh in on it too. After the Ferguson. Missouri, Eric Garner cases this will not just go away quietly.
[Edited on 7/23/2015 by gina]
Sure, she showed some attitude when it would have been wise to keep quiet. That wasn't smart. But really, who behaved worse in this situation, the pissed off motorist or the trained law officer? The officer should have been focused on calmly completing the traffic stop, but seemed intent on provoking the driver. Once he started down that path I don't think she had a chance. It never should have happened. It's the officer's fault that it did.
None of this answers the bigger question, which is what happened in that jail cell? She sat there for 3 days. THREE DAYS! For failure to signal a lane change? Come on. Between the way the officer acted and the fact that she was detained for 3 days I am very suspect of what is going on at this police department. Do I think she committed suicide in her cell? I have no idea. But I don't accept the police department's story at face value. This needs to be thoroughly investigated, and it will be.
I didn't know that failure to signal a lane change was a ticketable offense. As I matter of fact, I thought I was the only driver who ever signals a lane change.
Who knows what happened at the jail. It might have been suicide as declared. Her 'tude certainly at least helped to get her to a very bad place. The officer had a 'tude of his own. In my opinion, she should never have even been pulled over. I see drivers doing much worse than failing to signal a turn many, many times every single day.
For some reason lately here in Texas lots of people have been getting pulled over for failure to signal a lane change. Must be some weird new point of emphasis. My daughter warned me about it a couple of weeks ago as I almost never signal. A couple of her friends have been pulled over for it, one warning, one ticket. Guess I'd better start.
Most cities in this country could wipe out their debt by enforcing that law.
All of the actions by both Sandra and the PO do not explain how it turned into a suicide. Once she was in jail, the PO was out of the picture. There is a huge leap from resisting an office to suicide. I believe something had to have happened between the arrest and being placed in jail.
What about more than one officer coming in her cell and making it look like a suicide? One grabs her and covers her mouth, the other puts a bag over her head till she suffocates, then hangs her up to make it look accidental. She had a lot of fight in her, that is obvious from the arrest scene, so her giving up all in 3 days does not seem very likely, unless she had manic depression where it could be possible. I also think we need to know more about the PTSD, the nature of that, where that came from.
[Edited on 7/24/2015 by gina]
It's the 3 days in jail thing that bothers me. Granted, her charges probably went up from non-signaling to ... charges involving resisting arrest or even assault of an officer. Even so, if nobody was hurt, some sort of social worker or other official should have looked in on her the next day. By then, both she and the officer would've had time to chill out.
Police officers are certainly fallible individuals. I'm neither blaming nor defending the cop - but it is in ones best interest to cooperate politely when dealing with the police no matter how "in the right" you consider yourself to be.
Another senseless tragedy that just didn't have too happen.
What about more than one officer coming in her cell and making it look like a suicide? One grabs her and covers her mouth, the other puts a bag over her head till she suffocates, then hangs her up to make it look accidental. They may have even raped her. She had a lot of fight in her, that is obvious from the arrest scene, so her giving up all in 3 days does not seem very likely, unless she had manic depression where it could be possible. I also think we need to know more about the PTSD, the nature of that, where that came from.
Either you've seen or read reports that I haven't or you've got a wild imagination.
Has it been alleged that she was raped? I haven't heard this yet.
What about more than one officer coming in her cell and making it look like a suicide? One grabs her and covers her mouth, the other puts a bag over her head till she suffocates, then hangs her up to make it look accidental. They may have even raped her. She had a lot of fight in her, that is obvious from the arrest scene, so her giving up all in 3 days does not seem very likely, unless she had manic depression where it could be possible. I also think we need to know more about the PTSD, the nature of that, where that came from.
After she asked him countless times why she was being arrested he said he was going to "light her up". Maybe this is what he means by that; not necessarily being tasered????? Again, too many holes in this case. Lots of "t's" to be crossed & "i's" to be dotted. I hope the facts do come out. How much coverup is going on?
Someone needs to ask the question so I will. Same offense, same attitude. Would this have gone down the same way if she looked like this:
Instead of like this:
???
There is more wrong with this case. She was actually arrested for ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER, rather than resisiting arrest.
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/20/us/sandra-bland-arrest-death-videos-maps.html?_r=0
AND there is 90 minutes of time between when she last told guards she was fine and she was found dead in her cell. Other reports say they did not do the visible cell checks every hour, they just communicated by intercom with her.
"About 6:30 a.m., Ms. Bland refuses a breakfast tray. Shortly after 7 a.m. she responds, “I’m fine” to a jailer making the rounds, officials say, and she later asks how to make a phone call.Shortly after 9 a.m., a jailer finds her hanging. A video released by the sheriff’s office shows that there was no activity in the hallway leading to her cell for about 90 minutes before an officer checked on her and then called for help. The closed-circuit video below shows guards and a nurse rushing toward Ms. Bland’s cell. Emergency workers unsuccessfully administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation before she was pronounced dead at 9:16 a.m."
Now counter point is that the jail came up with an intake form whereby she allegedly said she had a previous suicide attempt after losing a baby. The form however was filled out by jail officials she did not fill it out herself, so the accuracy of the info on it cannot as yet be verified.
http://abcnews.go.com/us/sandra-blands-sister-officer-picking/story?id=32624451
ARREST AFFADAVIT from the Officer
[Edited on 7/24/2015 by gina]
USA Today has the video
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/22/sandra-bland-video-reaction/30502921/
This is unbelievable.
In the video, while she is being arrested she says she can't wait till this goes to court (being arrested for failing to signal a lane change). Then the jail wants to say oh she was depressed and took her own life after being arrested for ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER.
THIS IS THE VIDEO FROM AN ONLOOKER THAT SHOWS HER ON THE GROUND
The forms they have which say she admitted to being depressed and had prior suicide attempts were NOT FILLED OUT BY HER, they were filled out by jail authorities.
The TEN Things Texans Should Know About What Went On In this traffic stop - your rights
[Edited on 7/24/2015 by gina]
USA Today has the video
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2015/07/22/sandra-bland-video-reaction/30502921/
This is unbelievable.
Everyone has the video.
Everyone has seen the video.
And people still question if she was depressed and took her own life? No, I do not believe that.
Prior to her arrest, she had told her Mother that her purpose was to go back to Texas and fight injustice against blacks. Now look what happened to her.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/SandraBland?src ="hash"
Scroll down and look at the booking photos. The one with eyes rolled back in the head is this arrest. You can see fist marks around her eyes. No profile photo was provided. This is the condition she was in, but she was not sent for medical help.
There were some prior instances where jail officials were accused of racism.
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/624318923240910848
ShaunKing As Waller County Sheriff, Royce Glenn Smith oversees Deputy Chief Joe Hester and the Waller County Jail Division. ShaunKing Royce Glenn Smith, mentioned in '05 suit as Police Chief, suspended 2 yrs later for racist behavior, now Waller County Sheriff.
AUTOPSY report:
Waller County Prosecutor Waller Diepraam said there were "superficial abrasions on her right shoulder blade consistent with someone applying pressure to her back, or with her applying force with some other object". There was a leaf in a scab on her back, and 30 cut marks on her left wrist which they feel were there before she was arrested. A deputy joked with her 2 hours before her death. They had a normal conversation. The plastic bag was made into a noose and she hung herself while seated according to the report.
The person who arrested her, Brian Encinia was a Texas Ranger not a Waller County police officer. What rules do they abide by are they different than the county police, the training etc.
fox news inside the jail
How can a 6ft women kill herself if the partition was 5ft tall? WE NEED ANSWERS. #SandraBland #BlackLivesMatter
The official story is that she killed herself while sitting in a chair.
Does anyone really believe that?
[Edited on 7/24/2015 by gina]
[Edited on 7/24/2015 by gina]
And people still question if she was depressed and took her own life? No, I do not believe that.
Prior to her arrest, she had told her Mother that her purpose was to go back to Texas and fight injustice against blacks. Now look what happened to her.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/SandraBland?src ="hash"
Scroll down and look at the booking photos. The one with eyes rolled back in the head is this arrest. You can see fist marks around her eyes. No profile photo was provided. This is the condition she was in, but she was not sent for medical help.
Also the person who arrested her, Brian Encinia was a Texas Ranger not a Waller County police officer. What rules do they abide by are they different than the county police, the training etc.
There is more.
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/624318923240910848ShaunKing As Waller County Sheriff, Royce Glenn Smith oversees Deputy Chief Joe Hester and the Waller County Jail Division. ShaunKing Royce Glenn Smith, mentioned in '05 suit as Police Chief, suspended 2 yrs later for racist behavior, now Waller County Sheriff.
REMARKS: So you have a black woman who comes back to Texas to fight for injustice to black people, a Texas Ranger who arrests a woman who does not think she should be arrested for failing to signal a lane change and a police department that charges her with assaulting a police officer, and she winds up dead after three days in custody, with no attorney or arraignment and they say she was depressed and killed herself after no one walks down the hallway where her cell was for 90 minutes.
[Edited on 7/23/2015 by gina]
[Edited on 7/23/2015 by gina]
Self-diagnosed depression does not mean she had depression. All of us feel depressed from time to time. That does not mean that we are clinacally depressed.
Why don't you let the experts determine what happened and why it happened? You are far from an expert on anything.
Self-diagnosed depression does not mean she had depression. All of us feel depressed from time to time. That does not mean that we are clinacally depressed.
Why don't you let the experts determine what happened and why it happened? You are far from an expert on anything.
Hold on now, gina may have a lot more expertise in mental illness than you are giving her credit for.
And people still question if she was depressed and took her own life? No, I do not believe that.
Prior to her arrest, she had told her Mother that her purpose was to go back to Texas and fight injustice against blacks. Now look what happened to her.
https://twitter.com/hashtag/SandraBland?src ="hash"
Scroll down and look at the booking photos. The one with eyes rolled back in the head is this arrest. You can see fist marks around her eyes. No profile photo was provided. This is the condition she was in, but she was not sent for medical help.
Also the person who arrested her, Brian Encinia was a Texas Ranger not a Waller County police officer. What rules do they abide by are they different than the county police, the training etc.
There is more.
https://twitter.com/ShaunKing/status/624318923240910848ShaunKing As Waller County Sheriff, Royce Glenn Smith oversees Deputy Chief Joe Hester and the Waller County Jail Division. ShaunKing Royce Glenn Smith, mentioned in '05 suit as Police Chief, suspended 2 yrs later for racist behavior, now Waller County Sheriff.
REMARKS: So you have a black woman who comes back to Texas to fight for injustice to black people, a Texas Ranger who arrests a woman who does not think she should be arrested for failing to signal a lane change and a police department that charges her with assaulting a police officer, and she winds up dead after three days in custody, with no attorney or arraignment and they say she was depressed and killed herself after no one walks down the hallway where her cell was for 90 minutes.
[Edited on 7/23/2015 by gina]
[Edited on 7/23/2015 by gina]
Self-diagnosed depression does not mean she had depression. All of us feel depressed from time to time. That does not mean that we are clinacally depressed.
Why don't you let the experts determine what happened and why it happened? You are far from an expert on anything.
The experts will investigate it, I am merely pointing out some things that have come up. The cut marks on her wrist indicate either she did that previously or was in a situation where someone did that to her. Could have been a domestic violence thing, or she was accosted, or even harassed by a cop, what is interesting is that no one question 30 cut marks on her wrist when she was intake for this arrest. Since the marks had scabs on them as noticed by the coroner, they did not occur during her jail stay this time - meaning she did not do it alone in her cell.
I think there is a lot more that was going on her life, but I think she was offed in the jail to shut her up, to make sure she could not sue the cops, the state, the Rangers. Seriously, who hangs themselves sitting in a chair, does that sound normal to you? If she just came up with an innovative way to do that, why were there pressure wounds on her shoulder blade? I just don't think things are the way we are being told. Though it could be as they say, I just doubt it.
Self-diagnosed depression does not mean she had depression. All of us feel depressed from time to time. That does not mean that we are clinacally depressed.
Why don't you let the experts determine what happened and why it happened? You are far from an expert on anything.
Hold on now, gina may have a lot more expertise in mental illness than you are giving her credit for.
True Doug, there have been many examples for me to glean expertise from over the years, even some right here on the forum, present company excepted of course! 
Dashcam footage edited?
http://bennorton.com/dashcam-video-of-violent-arrest-of-sandra-bland-was-edited/
If everything was on the up and up, why would that be? Shouldn't be necessary. She was arrested to assaulting a police officer, allegedly (per the Time article below) for kicking him in the shins and using her elbows to strike him, while she was sitting in her car refusing to come out, and he is heard on the audio saying he will pull her out, but the audio does not have any part about this shin kicking on it. Why would they edit that out, since that is what she was being arrested for?
By the way Ava DuVernay, who is mentioned on Ben's blog, is the person who did the editing for the movie Selma (about Selma, Alabama) and is on twitter at:
https://twitter.com/AVAETC
Ava DuVernay
THE EMAILS:
http://time.com/3969304/sandra-blands-voicemail/
She made three phone calls, one to a friend, two to her sister. None of them think she was despondent as the police maintain.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/07/20/sandra-bland-jail-death_n_7837516.html
[Edited on 7/24/2015 by gina]
[Edited on 7/24/2015 by gina]
Self-diagnosed depression does not mean she had depression. All of us feel depressed from time to time. That does not mean that we are clinacally depressed.
Why don't you let the experts determine what happened and why it happened? You are far from an expert on anything.
Hold on now, gina may have a lot more expertise in mental illness than you are giving her credit for.
True Doug, there have been many examples for me to glean expertise from over the years, even some right here on the forum, present company excepted of course!
You're nothing if not a good sport gina.
Self-diagnosed depression does not mean she had depression. All of us feel depressed from time to time. That does not mean that we are clinacally depressed.
Why don't you let the experts determine what happened and why it happened? You are far from an expert on anything.
Hold on now, gina may have a lot more expertise in mental illness than you are giving her credit for.
True Doug, there have been many examples for me to glean expertise from over the years, even some right here on the forum, present company excepted of course!
You were doing OK until you added those last 5 words.
Someone needs to ask the question so I will. Same offense, same attitude. Would this have gone down the same way if she looked like this:
Instead of like this:
???
Although I can't see your pics on my screen, I think this is a case of Driving While Black with a tragic end.
Oh come on now, Doug's a good guy. We don't always agree, but he's respectable.
Meanwhile Sandra Bland's Mother gave a moving speech at the campus church for her daughter. This is one of those Rosa Parks type moments. She's not letting this go. Her daughter went back to Texas for a new job, and was ecstatic, she wanted to change the world. Her death probably will bring big changes. I got this feeling this is a pivotal moment in our history.
“There is not anywhere I could see that my baby took her own life,” Reed-Veal said.
“I have a baby to put in the ground,” Geneva Reed-Veal said. “She wasn’t my convict, she wasn’t my suspect – she was my baby.”
“Once I put this baby in the ground,” Reed-Veal told the crowd in her closing remarks, “I’m ready. … This means war.”
It is easy to understand a Mother's grief and disbelief, but the whole event just seems like it is not something could happen. Yet it did. It must not happen again.
Sandra's Mother with Al Sharpton. Sandra took a road trip with her Mother to Memphis before she left for Texas for her new job. She was NOT depressed.
http://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/watch/exclusive--sandra-bland-s-mother-speaks-490459715710
Someone needs to ask the question so I will. Same offense, same attitude. Would this have gone down the same way if she looked like this:
Instead of like this:
???Although I can't see your pics on my screen, I think this is a case of Driving While Black with a tragic end.
Even without the pics you nailed it.
Someone needs to ask the question so I will. Same offense, same attitude. Would this have gone down the same way if she looked like this:
Instead of like this:
???Although I can't see your pics on my screen, I think this is a case of Driving While Black with a tragic end.
Even without the pics you nailed it.
Totally nailed it. She was indeed driving.
