Discussion for article #238735
This cop has blood all over himself. I cannot tell you how angry I get watching that video (not Wilmore). This deliberate escalating of ANY situation by these cops bent on controlling others. Sandra Bland was not at all rude to this asshole; a bit short with him, yes, but totally reasonable. This cop is totally at fault for this woman’s death. I hope he gets his.
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Even if Bland were rude to the cop, that’s not illegal. There was no legitimate cause for arrest. This cop just kept poking and poking and poking trying to get her to do something illegal.
At a minimum, he should be fired. But he should be brought up on civil rights charges too.
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Personally, I thought she was rather respectful and reserved in the beginning. This man was itching for a fight. He did everything to goad her into being out of line, etc. This lady’s family should go after this cop with steak knives.
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But she killed herself 3 days later! What in the hell was she doing STILL IN JAIL for failure to signal a lane change?!?!?! There is more fault to go around than just the a-hole cop. When I heard the interview of the woman who was in a nearby cell talking about how she was just crying uncontrollably, it made me sick!
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And yet we have folks telling us this is all completely legal–stupid, but legal. And that means that the Model Driver In a Traffic Violation Stop needs to be mostly silent, give short answers like “yes” and “no”, deny being irritated or anything other than okay, and obey all orders (argue the legality later). The goal is to survive an encounter with a bad egg cop who has a gun and legal authority behind him.
I’m white and planning a road trip next summer. After this and watching the 77 year old grandmother being arrested at a traffic stop in Texas, I just plan to survive any encounters and deal with everything else afterward.
Oh, and I’m learning how to have my smartphone record lengthy stops–I might just be filming the overhead light but I fully intend to record the audio.
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Just added Texas to the list of southern states too dangerous to enter.
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Especially since the women adjacent to her were not by themselves. Just Sandra was.
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I would have watched this, but in their laziness to use Hulu, I was unable to do so even after turning off my ad blocker. The fact that the video asks you to click something to “turn off” ad blocking indicates something malevolent. Dont use Hulu when you can just as easily embed comedy central itself.
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Phone apps like “Bambuser” or “Fi-Vo” or the ACLU phone app let you record and most importantly store on the cloud anything you want. Check them out.
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What in the hell was she doing STILL IN JAIL for failure to signal a lane change?!?!?!
They charged her with assaulting an officer, a felony. It’s off the camera, but it sounds like it was from flailing around when he was trying to get her on the ground rather than intentional (as for someone who commented that he deliberately moved her out of view, note that he actually says to the other cop who arrives “at least it’s all on video”, so he seems to think it supports him).
Why would you ever think it would be otherwise? Getting a cop unnecessarily pissed off is just giving them an excuse to arrest you for something. It’s never been any different in the history of law enforcement, going back to the Romans and before.
I have viewed all of the videos and I did not view Ms.Bland as “combative” yet that is exactly the conclusion drawn by supposed Texas authorities when viewing the same video. This cop will be returned to the exact same duty when the dust settles and will be let loose again on the public. So now I will alter my behavior to reflect this reality. Congrats on reacting better to authority than I do.
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And apparently there’s a rule that prisoners must be checked on every hour to make sure they’re all right, and Ms. Bland was being checked on via intercom rather than visually. So except perhaps when she was brought food, she was seeing no human being while she was kept basically in solitary for three days, and quite possibly those hourly intercom checks continued all night, depriving her of sleep. We know what was done to her to get her incarcerated; I really want to know what was happening to her while she was in there. Even if it’s determined unequivocally that she committed suicide, there’s little doubt in my mind who’s responsible for her death.
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Yeah, but he also seems to think he was justified in arresting her, and threatening to “light her up” with his taser, for her audacity in daring to answer his questions politely but honestly.
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Notice that robo cop made the stop in the shade but felt it necessary to wear sunglasses and that stupid-looking hat. Pure intimidation.
I am sure he got the last kkkookie at his kkklavern meeting for doing this.
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Don’t forget: there is a possibility of an untreated head injury.
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The cop was going to do that fake search thing they do. Ask if they can search your car than deem your refusal to be suspicious, call in the dog…which false-alerts…then the towing company can come and impound the car…and kick back a few bucks.
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Not buying the suicide claim yet. The strange little coinkydeences just keep piling up one after another, higher and higher, every time they open their mouths down there. At this point, I’m really not going to be surprised if they claim she died in a tragic boating accident.
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It’s not clear to what extent this is about race. There are tons of cases of cops behaving abusively to people of all different races (and some of those cops are black). This is as much about blue as black and white. While it may not be advisable, you have a right to be snippy with a cop, just as much as with a clerk in a convenience store.
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