HEMPSTEAD, Texas (AP) — A police dashboard video released Tuesday shows that a Texas state trooper tried to pull a black motorist out of her car, then drew his stun gun and threatened her after she refused to follow his orders during a traffic stop.
The roadside encounter swiftly escalated into a shouting confrontation as the officer attempted to drag 28-year-old Sandra Bland from her vehicle, with the officer at one point saying, "I will light you up," as he held the stun gun.
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 seems 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.i watched the video twice i have to admit the cop seemed to be doing his job and not menacing i also think she was being confrontational when she was not being aggressively confronted, that led to the cop probably thinking "i'm doing my job respectfully and she's attacking me" which escalates because she won't follow the unwritten law when driving while Black, do not agitate the situation by mouthing off, though it's sad that we still have to adhere to this antiquated unwritten law i think this is a reasonable arrest.
now what transpired after the arrest and incarceration is the real issue as to wrongful death or suicide, the evidence as we know now shows incompetence or indifference on behalf of the police the plastic bag big enough to hang someone in the cell when traditionally when you are locked up they take everything that could be used to harm the prisoner down to shoe laces.
in short i think it was her own obnoxious and repetitive verbal attacks on the cop that put her in the position for others to do her harm, that is where justice will live or die.
