Tag: Sandra Bland
Sandra Bland, It Turns Out, Recorded Her Own Video of Traffic Stop Confrontation
Article via NYTimes
As Trooper Brian Encinia angrily threatened her with a stun gun from just outside her car window, Sandra Bland recorded the encounter on her cellphone, shown in a newly released 39-second video that has prompted Ms. Bland’s family to call for a renewed investigation into her arrest and death nearly four years ago.
Ms. Bland, a 28-year-old African-American from Chicago, was taken into custody in southeast Texas following the confrontational 2015 traffic stop and was found hanging in a jail cell three days later in what was officially ruled a suicide. The case, which drew international attention, intensified outrage over the treatment of black people by white police officers and was considered a turning point in the Black Lives Matter movement.
The video surfaced for the first time publicly Monday night in an investigative report on the Dallas television station WFAA that included interviews with Ms. Bland’s family and supporters, who accused officials of concealing information that they say should have been made public early in the investigation.
The authorities released the trooper’s dashcam video days after Ms. Bland’s death but the fact that Ms. Bland recorded the encounter from the front seat of her car was not public knowledge. Cannon Lambert, a lawyer who represents the Bland family, said the video, by showing Ms. Bland with a cellphone in her hand, seriously undercut the trooper’s claim that he feared for his safety as he approached the woman’s vehicle.
“What the video shows is that Encinia had no reason to be in fear of his safety,” Mr. Lambert, who represented the family in a $1.9 million legal settlement, said in a telephone interview. “The video shows that he wasn’t in fear of his safety. You could see that it was a cellphone, he was looking right at it.”A memorial for Sandra Bland at the spot where she was arrested in Hempstead, Tex.CreditIlana Panich-Linsman for The New York Times
Mr. Encinia said during internal interviews with Department of Public Safety officials that he had been worried about his safety. “My safety was in jeopardy at more than one time,” he told department interviewers.
Mr. Encinia was indicted on a charge of perjury — the only criminal charge arising from the case — after grand jurors accused him of making a false statement in his claim that he removed Ms. Bland from her car to more safely conduct a traffic investigation. But the charge was later dismissed on a motion by prosecutors in exchange for the trooper’s promise that he would never again work in law enforcement.
The prosecuting team concluded that Mr. Encinia’s permanent ban from law enforcement was the best option because there was no certainty of obtaining a conviction on the perjury charge, one of the prosecutors said at the time.
Ms. Bland’s death in a largely rural part of southeast Texas unified African-American leaders throughout the state, leading to the enactment of the Sandra Bland Act in 2017, which requires training in de-escalation techniques for all police officers, sets up protections in custody for people with mental health and substance abuse issues and requires that independent law enforcement agencies investigate jail deaths
The new video recycled the tense roadside confrontation that millions of online viewers had already seen from the officer’s dashcam video and another one shot by a bystander. The main difference was the perspective — in the video newly made public, Ms. Bland is directly facing Mr. Encinia.
“Get out of the car,” the officer shouts as he thrusts a Taser toward her. “I will light you up. Get out. Now.”
Ms. Bland was pulled over near the campus of Prairie View A & M University in Waller County, where she had been planning to begin a new job, after the trooper said she failed to signal a turn. But the traffic stop became heated, and Mr. Encinia ordered Ms. Bland out of the car.
After the trooper told her to “get off the phone,” Ms. Bland responded: “I’m not on the phone. I have a right to record. This is my property.”
“Put your phone down,” Mr. Encinia repeated. “Put your phone down right now.”
The video was released by WFAA in partnership with the nonprofit Investigative Network. Its chief reporter, Brian Collister, said the video had been in the hands of law investigators until it was obtained by his news organization. Members of Ms. Bland’s family called on Texas officials to re-examine the case after Mr. Collister showed them the video, according to the WFAA report.
“Open up the case, period,” Ms. Bland’s sister, Shante Needham, told the station. “We know they have an extremely, extremely good cover-up system.”
Mr. Lambert, the family’s lawyer, told The Times that the release of the video raised questions about prosecutors’ decision not to press ahead with the perjury case, saying the recording undercut Mr. Encinia’s claim that he feared for his safety.
“So if the video showed that he had no basis of being in fear of his safety, and he lied about that, then you would think they would be using that video,” he said, calling prosecutors’ decision not pursue the case “extremely troubling.”
A team of five special prosecutors was assigned to the grand jury investigation. One of the team members Shawn McDonald, a Houston lawyer, said on Monday that he was not involved in the decision to drop the charges and pushed back at Mr. Lambert’s criticism of the team’s performance.
“For him to come back three years later is frankly quite ridiculous,” said Mr. McDonald, who added that he was “proud” of the investigation into the case.
Mr. McDonald said he first saw Ms. Bland’s video more than three years ago. “It was her cellphone so it was taken as evidence when we investigated the case,” he said.Video
Evidence typically was not released, he said, though a decision was made to release the trooper’s video shortly after the case began unfolding in an effort “to be transparent because of the concern everyone had with her arrest and subsequent suicide.”
Chip Lewis, a Houston lawyer who represented Mr. Encinia in the investigation, said his client was in a new career “wholly unrelated” to law enforcement, but he offered few details. “He’s working in the private sector, supporting his wife and family and living a quiet life,” Mr. Lewis said.
The FBI joins Texas Rangers to investigate the circumstances surrounding Sandra Bland’s death
Another Woman Of Color Dies In Police Custody After Being Told To ‘Quit Faking’ Her Pain
Pregnant woman pulled over, officer gives help instead of a ticket
As I sit and read this “feel good” story about this supposedly compassionate and caring Officer I can’t help but to think of Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Walter Scott, Sam Debose, Sandra Bland….
Until we can get these superficial, mentally disturbed, deranged, girlfriend or wife beatin’ over zealous quick draw to kill my unarmed black;brown brotha and sistahs. When we as a people can CONVICT and SENTENCE these killer cops, when we can rebuild the justice system, when the GOOD COPS like Officer Jimmy Allen of the Seattle WA Police Department who stopped to helped a 9 month pregnant woman of color put her license plate on her brand new car can STAND UP AND STEP UP to their OWN; when our white folk start talking openly with PoC about race and how their white privilege is effecting our nation and HOW THEY CAN HEAL THE WOUNDS that has oppressed and still is oppressing the oppressed, when we can STOP POLICE BRUTALITY, when white folk CAN acknowledge that #ALLIVESMATTER DON’T MATTER if you see BLACK LIVES killed, beaten and bruised just for the color of their skin then you may say #ALLIVESMATTER (FOR NOW #BLACKLIVESMATTER) when white folk can have EMPATHY and sympathy for our my people of color only then can we TRULY feel good moment for this heartwarming story.
Source: http://www.kirotv.com/news/news/pregnant-woman-pulled-over-officer-gives-help-inst/nnBKj/
Instagram Restricted Sandra Bland Hashtag To Block Hate Speech
LISLE, IL – JULY 25: Daija Belcher, 5, holds a sign in front of the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church during the funeral service for Sandra Bland on July 25, 2015 in Lisle, Illinois. Bland’s death roused suspicion nationwide after the 28-year-old was found hanging from a plastic bag three days after she was pulled over by a Texas State Trooper for a traffic violation. (Photo by Jonathan Gibby/Getty Images)
Since Sandra Blands death the hashtag #sandrabland started trending folks on Twitter, Facebook; Instgram have shared this hashtag.
Instagram has generated over 246,000 posts I like so many of us black woman didn’t realize we could be #sandrabland that could be our sister, our aunt, are grandmother our friend! Sandra Bland was an activist against racial injustice her face was out there because she was part of this thing called social media that she took part in. By doing so she put her life in danger these hashtags began being censored and blocked by Instagram, Instagram stated that they were not cencering but trying to weed out the racists from using the hashtag (shits giggles) for their racist violent rants which is against Instagram’s community guidelines. Since we’ve had social media the RACISTS(S) have really come out to show out and it’s going to get worse before it gets better!
News Source The Huffington Post
Sandra Bland’s Death Ruled Suicide! Fellow Inmate Says She Was ‘Distraught’ in Jail
Pyle, who was in the Waller County Jail because of unpaid parking tickets, told KTRK that she and Bland communicated through the rectangular windows in their cells that faced one another.
Bland was taken into custody July 10 after a heated traffic stop, and her family has questioned official descriptions of her death as a suicide.
“She seemed really distraught,” Pyle said, “but I don’t know if I can say that was suicidal.”
Pyle did, however, say that she was “positive” that Bland’s death was a suicide because she believes the guards would not have hurt her.
“I don’t think the guards did anything,” Pyle said.
“I just know the guards here. They’re good guards. They’re strict when they need to be but they’re good guards,” Pyle said. “She wasn’t causing a ruckus or anything, so I don’t see why the guards would do anything to her. She was quiet.”
Pyle added that initially Bland didn’t seem interested in conversing, but she later apologized for being rude.
“She said her bond was $5,000 and she said, ‘I’m not equipped for this kind of life. I don’t want to be here, I don’t deserve to be here, I didn’t do anything. It’s all messed up,'” Pyle said.
Bland reportedly held her wrists up to the window to show Pyle “scratches and bruises on her wrists.” On Thursday, Warren Diepraam, the first assistant district attorney in Waller County, Texas, read details from the toxicology and autopsy reports that were conducted by the Harris County medical examiner, which noted that such marks “are consistent with being handcuffed and struggling during the handcuffed process.”
Because Pyle and Bland were not in the same cell, Pyle was unable to say if she knew when Bland made any phone calls, but Bland reportedly told her about them and her struggle to post bond.
“She said she kept on trying to call this one person that she moved in [with] here because she said she was from Chicago and … she was like, ‘It’s just not answering. It’s going straight to voicemail and I don’t know why, I don’t know why. He said he’d be here in an hour and its days later,’” Pyle said.
The jailers’ decision to place Bland alone in a cell seemed strange to Pyle, who was in her cell with two other women. Pyle said the company helped them get through their days. They made each other laugh, which she thought may not have helped Bland’s emotional state.
“She’s over there hearing that, you know. That’d make anybody sad,” Pyle said.
This case is getting stranger and stranger by the day smh, i just want the truth to come out whatever that maybe!
Sandra Bland Drove to Texas to Start a New Job, so How Did She End Up Dead in Jail?
She has a Name
Her name is Sandra Bland a Black Woman from Naperville ILL., on July 9th the 28 year old drove to Texas to start her new job at her alma meter, Prairie View, A&M only to be stopped just outside the campus July 10th by Police for allegedly (WE ALL KNOW IT WASN’T ALLEGEDLY) for failing to signal while changing lanes. Needless to write on July 13th when her Family came to bail her out of jail to only find her dead in her jail cell hmmmm…. a Video was uploaded to YouTube and it doesn’t look like the police stopped her for that reason.
What will it take to reprogram these shoot to kill cops from killing our BLACK MEN AND WOMEN? (Okay stay FOCUSED NOW WE ARE NOT TALKING ABOUT ALL LIVES MATTER WE ARE TALKING ABOUT #BLACKLIVESMATTER #BLACKWOMANSLIVESMATTER) The only way to reprogram the police and the justice system is to fire and prosecute (ACTUALLY CONVICT AND SENTENCE) everyone of these RACIST BIAS and prejudice officer of color who is in the racist system of justice for the wrongful death of an unarmed man, woman or children of color. How do we do reprogram the good ones you ask? We need to get these good cops out from under the shadows and into the light so they can shine bright these cops are probably scared to step up and speak out against police brutality for fear of retaliation or loss of job.
As you may or naïvely may NOT realize when a BLACK police officer takes off his badge and uniform she/he is just another N****** with a target on their back. One way (I KNOW THERE’S MUCH MORE TO DO) is to STOP recruiting these over eager (security cops) wanna be real cops get them out in the Community with the people let them explore their community with another set of eyes. Abolish the STOP and frisk, Broken Windows policy…… I could go on. When is it gonna STOP my people! RIP Sandra Bland
On July 9, 28-year-old Sandra Bland of Naperville, Ill., drove to Texas to start a new job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M. On July 10, police stopped Bland just outside the campus….
Via: Stephen A. Crockett Jr.