Black female driver, White police officer, altercation, then death by hanging three days later in a Texas jail. What in the hell happened?
Sandra Bland, who was from Naperville, Illinois, was stopped July 10 after coming to Texas to interview for a job at Prairie View A&M University, a historically black college from which she graduated in 2009. The traffic stop for failing to signal a lane change escalated into hostility. She was arrested on a charge of assault of a public servant, accused of kicking the officer, and taken to the Waller County jail in Hempstead, about 60 miles northwest of Houston. She was found dead in her cell July 13.
There was dashcam video of the stop, but there was a problem with the video. The audio apparently was complete. Several 'experts' have determined that the video was 'edited.' To what end, however?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpSEemvwOn4There is no dispute that Sandy Bland was stopped by the officer, presumable for failing to properly signal a lane change. (You know, the kind of stop a Texas cop makes when the vehicle license tag is from Illinois) Pumped up with the knowledge that the US Justice Department has her back, the motorist was extremely uncooperative, refusing to get out of the car after repeated requests by the cop. She resists and the charges are escalated to Cop Assault.
Three days later, she is found in a cell, dead.
I don't know about any of you, but damned if I'm going to chill in a rural lock-up for three days without getting bailed out. Bail bondsmen are available 24/7.
On her intake questionnaire, she was asked about depression and killing herself. She said on one form, she had attempted suicide once when she lost a baby. These jailhouse custodians may have violated procedure in not putting her on a 15 minute watch, instead of the customary one hour watch.
I'll leave you with her friend's quote:
Bland calmly says she's "still just at a loss for words honestly at this whole process" and wonders, "How did switching lanes with no signal turn into all of this?"
I think I know the answer. Anybody else want to weigh in as to how this minor traffic violation "turned into all this"?
Read more at
http://www.wral.com/the-latest-bland-voicemail-from-jail-expresses-disbelief/14790508/#0m6KTfk0twhwuFiI.99http://www.wral.com/q-a-a-look-at-the-death-of-sandra-bland-in-texas-jail/14789856/