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Friday 24 July 2015

The Death Of Sandra Bland In Police Custody -The Full Story So Far

SANDRA BLAND-600x600

Sandra Bland is an African-American woman who was pulled over during a routine traffic stop by Texas police on July 10, 2015 for failing to signal a lane change while driving.
Following an escalating conflict with the officer caught on audio and video recordings, Bland was later arrested for “assaulting” the police officer, state trooper Brian Encinia, who pulled her over.
She was put in the Waller County jail in Houston, Texas with a bail for $5,000. She died in her cell on July 13, 2015…three days after she was detained by police.
Sandra BlandSandra Bland
Police stated that Bland had hanged herself with a plastic garbage bag in her jail cell; a contention her family and supporters dispute. Her death was followed by protests disputing the cause of her death and alleging racial violence against Bland, because she was a person of colourBland was 28 years old and a well known critic of police brutality in the United States.

Who was Sandra Bland?

Image: Sandra Bland was a vocal civil rights campaigner
Sandra Bland, who was found hanging from a Texas jail cell July 13. NBC Chicago
Bland, 28, lived with her family in suburban Chicago, and traveled to Waller County this month seeking a job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M, where she graduated in May 2009.
She got the job in the school's agricultural department. According to an older sister, Bland was "euphoric" about the opportunity.
Months earlier, Bland said on Facebook that she suffered from depression and post traumatic stress disorder. But relatives said they saw nothing recent to indicate she was feeling any despair.

Why was she arrested?

At about 4:30 p.m. on July 10, Bland was driving a silver Hyundai Azera south through Waller County on FM 1098, near Prairie View A&M, when a state trooper, Brian Encinia, pulled her over for said was for failing to signal a lane change.
 Watch Raw Police Dashcam Video of Sandra Bland's Arrest14:11
Much of the stop was captured by Encinia's dashcam. The footage, released by the Texas Department of Public Safety, shows him talking to an increasingly irritated Bland, who questions the reason for the stop, and refuses to put out a cigarette she's smoking. When he tells her to get out of the car, she responds, "I refuse to talk to you other than to identify myself."
The footage, which was released late Tuesday, was criticized for irregularities in which the video repeats itself or is cut while the audio continues uninterrupted. But the Texas Department of Public Safety blamed the apparent irregularities on a technical glitch, and said the video had not been edited.
The video shows Encinia responding to Bland's refusal to step from the car by threatening to forcibly remove her. He tells her she's under arrest. Bland asks what the charge is, and Encinia pulls out a Taser. "I will light you up," he says.
At that, Bland steps from the car, and the two of them move from the dashcam's view, though the audio remains clear. She apparently pulls out her cell phone in an apparent attempt to record the encounter, and Encinia orders her to put it away.
He then puts her in handcuffs and forces her to the ground as Bland complains, sometimes in vulgar language, about his treatment of her. At several points, Bland insults him. Encinia tells her that he originally planned to give her a warning. "Now you're going to jail," he says. A second officer arrives to help Encinia put Bland in custody.
Image: Sandra Bland
A jail photograph of Sandra Bland. Waller County Sheriff’s Office via AP
In his report on the stop, Encinia said Bland "became combative and uncooperative." After he put her in handcuffs, he wrote, she "began swinging her elbows at me and then kicked my right leg in the shin."
He reported feeling pain in his leg and sustaining small cuts on his right hand. He said he forced Bland to the ground, but she continued to fight back, and he arrested her for assaulting a public servant.
An emergency medical technician was called to the scene, but Bland refused treatment, authorities said. A Prairie View police officer took Bland to the county jail.
Watch video…
Her death has sparked a worldwide outrage as she has been the number one trending topic on Twitter since her death. People are asking why Bland was even remanded in jail for three days for a minor traffic violation. It is also perceived that treating her case as a suicide case given the circumstances doesn’t add up.
She was said to have committed suicide by asphyxiation with a polythene garbage bag, to which one Facebook user wrote:
“The fact of the matter is, if this woman hasn’t been wrongfully arrested she would still be alive.
Stay angry because there’s no way this 6ft tall woman hung herself from a 5ft tall prison cell partition.”
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Later, another video was released of her sending a voicemail to a friend. She was heard saying she had finally gotten to see a judge who set her bail for $5,000 and she was waiting the the receiver to call her back.
Click to listen to the audio below…
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After listening to this audio, another Facebook user wrote:

“She was waiting on a phone call! Why would she kill herself! Those officers or they had one of the people in another cell come in and strangle her! For a lesser charge! All you have to do is follow the bread crumbs!
Who is the corner and how many people has this same forensic pathologist label jail house killings as suicide and how many are people of color for that particular jail or county!
Then where are the videos that show the motion of the jail during the times Sandra was in the jail?!
Where is the footage of when she arrives when she changed her clothes and the food who prepared her food what did she drink?

Was the food on plastic paper plates that required a trash can present so oddly between the bench and bunk beds? 

Who had access to her cell? Where is the footage of her calling her family or the bail bondsman?

How could the trash bag be heavy enough to strangle Sandra???  Was this bag put over her head and sealed off?”

SANDRA BLAND-CELLPhoto shows the inside of the Waller County jail in Hempstead, Texas on Wednesday July 22, 2015 photo. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)SANDRA BLAND-CEL 2The Waller County jail cell where Sandra Bland was found dead as seen on Wednesday, July 22, 2015. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)
After the announcement of Bland’s death and the release of the video footage showing the arrest, the officer was placed on administrative duties for failing to follow proper traffic stop procedures.
On July 16, Texas authorities and the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced they had begun a joint investigation into Bland’s death. The Waller County district attorney’s office stated that Bland’s death would be investigated as a possible murder and not a suicide case as previously stated.
A motion-activated camera outside Bland’s cell, provided by police, shows no recording in the hallway for 90 minutes before jailers found Bland dead.
Watch another video…
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SANDRA BLAND-MEMORIALJeanette Williams places a bouquet of roses at a memorial for Sandra Bland near Prairie View A&M University, Tuesday, July 21, 2015, in Prairie View, Texas. Bland was found hanging in her jail cell three days after the incident. (AP Photo/Pat Sullivan)SANDRA BLAND-PILLARAnother memorial for Sandra Bland
Two days ago, a 52-minute dashcam video was newly released, throwing more light to what must have transpired between Bland and the police officer. Please watch the video below before my deevanalysis…
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To watch the full 52-minute clip on YouTube, click HERE

My Deevanalysis

The death of Sandra Bland is very unfortunate. This deevanalysis would have made much logical sense if she were alive. No manner of objective analysis would erase the fact that once a person dies, he or she can never be brought back and that makes the whole purpose of talking about it almost useless.
But for the sake of the people of colour still living in today’s America, we must not fail to drive home certain points in the hope that the few white people who have been enslaved by the white-supremacist mentality can finally be subdued.
Yes you heard me, I said few. The reason is a lot of Caucasians have voiced their outrage at Bland’s ill treatment and subsequent death as much as the Blacks. The evil perpetrated here is glaring and only a devil would applaud how Police Officer Encinia handled the case.
Americans must unite to fight evil and injustice without throwing the race card at every opportunity. It kills the reality of the issue at hand; being that not all white people are racist and are ready to march and fight with the Blacks for the equality of every citizen. The race card only pits good people against each other. In the end, the vicious cycle of hate and injustice continues to prevail.
Having said that, I must also point out that I didn’t quite like the way Bland kept arguing with the police officer and refusing to step out of the car, when she was ordered to do so. Encinia is an officer of the law. Bland had violated a traffic law and the officer had every right to pull her over. So why was she smoking and driving, if she was late for an interview as claimed? Why didn’t she put out the cigarette as a courtesy when she was asked to do so?
How I wish she had stopped, smiled at the officer and said something like: “Good day officer, what seems to be the problem?” or “Gosh, officer…I’m so sorry. I’m terribly late for my job interview and I didn’t realise that I failed to signal a lane change.”
Instead, she acted aggressively; feigning ignorance about why she was pulled over. This must have infuriated the officer and their exchange escalated to something this ugly.
Psychos are everywhere. They are also in police uniform. What stops a KKK loyalist from enrolling in the force to use the authority bestowed on him by the state to perpetuate his hate? Why did the German Wings pilot kill over a hundred passengers on board his flight?
We must never fail to realise that even people in authority could be abusive and mentally unstable. So we mustn’t always act all aggressive with people we don’t know because we are not sure of the reaction that we’ll get.
We are all activists so long as we speak against injustice to mankind. But it should be done wisely, peacefully and objectively. The activist in Sandra came out during her arrest when she should have first acknowledged that she was wrong for breaking a traffic law.
Howbeit, she is dead and it stinks of foul play. This is the time for America to prove that it is indeed the “Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave” by bringing her murderers to justice.
May the soul of Sandra Bland rest in peace.

Video Credit: ABC News | ATTN on Facebook | CNN | AJ+
Photo Credit: AP Photo/Pat Sullivan | Mashable | Facebook 

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