I don't know how Sandra Bland died, but I do know how she ended up in jail on a $5,000 bond, and it's just ridiculous.
Ridiculous? Actually, it's criminal. We have a serious problem in America, and this is just another demonstration of that. (Really, do we need any more? Seriously?)
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I couldn't believe it when I saw the dash am video - it appears as though the officer did everything he could to escalate the situation.
I've been ticketed a time or two ( but NEVER for failing to signal a lane change). On several occasions, I've been really irritated, and have let the cop know it. I've never been ordered out of the car, much less arrested for it. From what I can see, Sandra Bland was very measured in her response to a bogus ticket. She even says, after telling him why she's irritated, " bit that doesn't stop you from giving me a ticket". For crying out loud - she's essentially saying, "I have to take the ticket, but I don't have to like it. I know the rules, so go ahead".
Unfortunately, I believe the trooper was technically within his rights to order her from the car, so I suspect no criminal charges will be brought against him. I would like to see the justice department investigate.
It's hard to believe we now live in a country where this kind of thing is commonplace.
"It's hard to believe we now live in a country where this kind of thing is commonplace."
Unfortunately, this is the result of our country's cops going to the Cartman-from-South Park police academy. They only know three words: "RESPECT MY AUTHORI-TAH!!!"
To make matters worse, all of a sudden there has been a rash of "jail suicides" by Black youth.
http://crooksandliars.com/2015/07/epidemic-jail-suicides-hanging-or
The first thing that popped into my head was "once is an accident, twice is a coincidence..."
Hmm...
I know, Gregg. This was astonishing to me, too. I called it "criminal," but the cop's actions were legal, I'm sure. It's just that he deliberately manufactured this incident out of nothing.
It's like the earlier video I posted of the police tasing and pepper-spraying a man - a black man, of course - who was having a stroke. There's no way that would happen to you or I.
But this? This is just incredible. If Bland had been a young white woman, the cop would probably have flirted with her. Certainly, he would have immediately told her that he was just giving her a warning.
Heck, he probably wouldn't have stopped her at all. Certainly, the outcome would have been far, far different. This is a tragedy, and it's a tragedy that keeps happening, over and over again, in America.
Hey, Jeff, how are you doing?
I don't want to jump to conclusions about murder, though that certainly needs to be investigated.
The thing is, even if it was a suicide, it shouldn't have happened. And it wouldn't have happened without this woman ending up in jail for nothing.
The sad thing is, this kind of thing hasn't just started happening. We're only aware of some of these incidents because of video evidence. Imagine the same situation 20 years ago - she's arrested for assaulting an officer, and there would be no evidence of any inappropriate behavior from the trooper.
Is it any wonder that minorities and the poor don't trust the police?
Yup. That's exactly what I was thinking. Without that dash-cam, this would have received no attention at all. Just another black person resisting arrest and then hanging herself in jail...
Like the black man shot in the back by a cop, who then planted evidence near the body - all caught on a cell-phone video (unknown to him, of course).
Or the black man, behind the wheel of his own car, tased and pepper-sprayed because he was having a stroke and couldn't move.
The idea that these things are just happening now, when we've finally got video evidence, is ludicrous. They've always happened.
They don't happen to you or me, and we'd be astonished if they did. But that's not a reason to assume that our experiences are the norm for everyone.
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