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The Texas Department of Public Safety has recently released the police dashcam footage of the arrest of Sandra Bland. Bland was pulled over for failing to signal and was arrested and later found dead in a jail cell. The video shows the behavior and attitude of both Sandra Bland and Officer Brian Encinia. The physical violence toward Bland appears unnecessary and was explained by Encinia in his affidavit as necessary because Bland allegedly became combative “swung her elbows at him and kicked him in his right shin.”
Encinia asks Bland, “Are you OK? You seem very irritated.” To which Bland responds that she was irritated because she was pulled over for no reason. Encinia then tells Bland to put out her cigarette and becomes enraged that she would not put out her cigarette in her own car, and then tells her to step out of the car. When she refuses Encinia yells, “Get out of the car! I will light you up!”
The video clearly shows an out of control cop who did not like being challenged over the blatantly illegal arrest. Bland is brutalized by the cop, who slams her head to the ground and when she states she has epilepsy, he responds, “Good. Good.”
The ticket was only supposed to be a warning, instead it resulted in her untimely death by hanging in a jail cell. The DA is treating her death as a murder, not a suicide.
