The death of Sandra Bland

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/16/15 at 5:23pm

But why do the coloreds not trust cops?

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/16/15 at 5:26pm

The Sheriff on the case kicked out of job in 2008 for racism, brutality

[LarryD2]

Posted: 7/16/15 at 7:21pm

This whole story is a red flag factory. Who gets stopped for failing to signal? (A woman of color with out-of-state plates in a racist town, of course). Who spends three days in jail for this? Who "commits suicide" on the morning they're supposedly going to be released?

The video is disturbing and seemingly contradicts the narrative the police are selling. I hope that this gets the investigation it deserves, because something is so obviously not right here.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 5:05pm

The full police dashcam video. Why must she get out of the car? Put out her cigarette?

[Liza's Headband]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 5:19pm

Larry. This is a truly heinous incident and I smell cover-up, racism, corruption and brutality all the way... But those of us saying so would benefit from sticking to the facts. She was not arrested because of failing to use a signal while changing lanes. She was arrested for what they considered "resisting arrest" and "assault on a law enforcement officer." Again, facts are crucial if we are to keep the number of doubters down. 

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 7:32pm

Then, there was the case of 18-year-old Kindra Chapman, arrested on Tuesday in Alabama for allegedly stealing a cellphone. According to AL.com: “Jailers last saw her alive at 6:30 p.m. She was found unresponsive at 7:50 p.m. Authorities said she used a bed sheet to hang herself.” According to the paper, she had been booked in the Homewood City Jail at 6:22 p.m.

[henrikegerman]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 8:44pm

"She was arrested for what they considered "resisting arrest" and "assault on a law enforcement officer." Again, facts are crucial if we are to keep the number of doubters down."

And how exactly did she do any of those things based on the dash cam video which shows her being stopped for a failure to turn and clearly abused by the police?

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/22/15 at 8:55pm

Please keep in mind that the Headband wanted everyone who felt any solidarity with #BlackLivesMatter to denounce the manipulated video that made it appear that crowds were chanting they wanted dead cops.  In fact, he made sure to grind any threads about this country's serious race problem to a halt over that issue.

So don't try to appease his "concerns," he will never be satisfied.

[LarryD2]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 7:51am

The dash-cam video should be damning, but I'm sure the folks who believe that law enforcement is never wrong will turn on their spin machine any minute now. Bland never should have been taken out of her car or arrested in the first place.

Of course, police are actually not required to inform you as to why you are being placed under arrest during the arrest. The Supreme Court established this with Devenpeck v. Alford (2004):

“While it is assuredly good police practice to inform a person of the reason for his arrest at the time he is taken into custody, we have never held that to be constitutionally required.”

The officer could have placed Sandra Bland under arrest for any reason he saw fit and not informed her of the reason why he was arresting her. "Resisting arrest" and "assault on a public servant" sound better than "A black woman was mouthing off to me and I didn't like it."

[SmoothLover]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 8:46am

Yes the cop handled the situation poorly. She was being quite sassy. Most people would have said oh I did not realize officer, I am so sorry...but never the less he should have ignored her and just given her a warning and then been on his merry way...I mean he knew the camera and audio were on...his actions make no sense what so ever....

[LarryD2]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 8:51am

He knew what he was doing. After he got her out of the car, he moved her out of the camera's view. It's easy to create a narrative when the camera can't record what you're doing physically, even if there is audio.

Being sassy with a police officer isn't a crime, and asking questions does not equal non-compliance. Police are supposedly trained to react to situations with calm and to attempt to de-escalate, although we see time and again examples of officers using excessive force as their first line of defense.

Updated On: 7/23/15 at 08:51 AM

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 9:08am

What the insightful writer Sarah Schulman had to say on the Facebook about the dashboard video:

Everything that is wrong in our world is right here: The Most Base and Brutal Racism, Escalation, Over-Stating Harm, Conflating Conflict With Abuse, Construing Resistance as Abuse, Supremacy Ideology Masquerading As Reality. The Provincial Bully Who Cannot Be Self-Critical, Bullies Who Can't Tolerate Righteous Opposition. Falsely Invoking the Law to Cover Up One's Own Wrong-Doing, Accusations As Smokescreens. It Is All PAINFULLY and BLATANTLY Right Here.

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 9:56am

Sandra Bland's Voicemail From Jail: 'How Did Switching Lanes Turn Into All of This?'

[CarlosAlberto]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 10:14am

Newly released police video shows a Texas trooper threatening Sandra Bland with a Taser when he ordered her out of her vehicle during a routine traffic stop on July 10, three days before she was found dead in a county jail. (Editor's note: This video contains graphic language and has been edited for length.)

[LarryD2]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 10:57am

3 This country is FULL of Americans who actively exercise their rights when given unlawful, unclear orders by police.

4 Refusing to roll down windows, present ID, hand over assault rifles, answer ANY questions, etc.

5 THEY are lauded as heroes; patriots. Message boards swell w/ Police being ridiculed & laughed at by this Patriot-Class of Americans.

6 Without fail, when select Americans excercise their rights, message boards FILL w praise for the resisting citizen & mockery of police.

8 A select segment of Americans are granted the privilege of being able to resist said tyranny, scream at it, punch, shove or elude it.

9 For membership consideration, this club has ONE requirement: the citizen(s) resisting police/the law/status quo must be white.

10 Every time the story involves a black citizen, doing far less, presumed guilt BEGINS as their's to shed. But one cannot shed blackness.

11 Blackness turns "awesome!" or "badass!" to "thug" "n*" faster than a speeding bullet. Whiteness turns villain to hero in a flash.

Link

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 1:46pm

The latest theory is that she was already dead when they took the mug shot of her.

If that is the case, all hell will break loose.

Has anyone determined why there was a plastic garbage bag in her cell anyway?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 2:21pm

Yes I heard that as well Pal Joey. Evidence is in the mug shot it's self.

 

 

1) ther braids which should be hanging down are hanging back like she is on her back.

 

 

2) She is already in her orange jump suit. Everyone's mug shot is taken as soon as they enter custody.

 

3) the way her jumpsuit drapes, suggests she is laying down.

 

4) The left side of her face droops, which is usually happens when one dies of Asxphyxiation.

 

5)The muscles on her face are pulled back toward "the wall" (read floor).

[FindingNamo]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 2:26pm

Ugh.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 4:52pm

Other than item#2, I can't really make out all that detail from the mug shot.  Unfortunately, I have seen my share of dead people and the eyes and face are nothing like that mug shot.  And all the side-by-side comparisons are of photos of her with makeup, smiling, from God-knows-when with smaller, shorter braids.  I do think there are a lot of questions that need answering, but I don't take much stock in this particular conspiracy theory.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 5:15pm

No. And surely they wouldn't pretend she was alive for three days--particularly since we know there are security cameras outside her cell.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 5:16pm

Here's that link to the theory that she was already dead when they took her mug shot.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 5:25pm

What about the plastic garbage bag? How did that get into her cell?

[SNAFU]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 6:01pm

There is a lot that is very shady about this woman's death.

Besides, wasn't she on her way to a job interview? Wouldn't she have had make-up on?

Updated On: 7/23/15 at 06:01 PM

[LarryD2]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 6:13pm

She already had the job. She was supposed to start work the week she died. She was out running errands when she was stopped.

Obviously there's a lot here that isn't right, but the theory that she's dead in her mug shot doesn't pass the smell test with me.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 7/23/15 at 8:04pm

"What about the plastic garbage bag? How did that get into her cell?"

 I find this to be the most pressing question they haven't answered yet. 

Also very curious why her mug shot was taken in a prison jumper.