Dash cam video shows arrest of Sandra Bland after she refused to put out cigarette; was it edited?
Texas officials are blaming a technical glitch for irregularities in a dashboard camera video that shows the arrest of Sandra Bland, the Chicago area woman whose relatives are questioning whether her jail cell death was a suicide.
In the video, released on Tuesday, some sections—showing a person walking and a car driving by—are repeated, though the audio is not interrupted, report Click2Houston and the Washington Post. Some of the repeated video occurs when the Texas state trooper who made the arrest is speaking with someone on the phone about the incident.
A spokesperson for the Texas Department of Public Safety blamed “a technical issue during upload” and said the video is being corrected.
The video confirms an account by a friend of Bland’s who says Bland told him “it just went downhill” after she refused the officer’s request that she put out her cigarette. The New York Times and the Washington Post link to the video and summarize what happens. (The trooper walks up to Bland’s car at eight minutes and 30 seconds into the video.)
In the video, the officer speaks to Bland through her car window and tells Bland she seems irritated. Bland replies that, yes, she is irritated because the officer was giving her a ticket for pulling over to get out of his way. The officer, Brian Encinia, asks Bland to put out her cigarette, but she refuses. “I’m in my car. I don’t have to put out my cigarette,” she said.
The officer then orders Bland to get out of her car and she again refuses. “I’m going to yank you out of here,” Encinia says. Bland tells the officer not to touch her because she is not under arrest. “Why am I being apprehended?” Bland asks repeatedly.
“Get out of the car,” Encinia yells, pulling out a Taser. “I will light you up.”
In part of the confrontation outside camera view, Bland says the officer “just slammed my head to the ground.” Encinia tells an officer who arrives at the scene that he took Bland down because she “started yanking away, then kicked me.”
Steven McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, says the officer was obligated “to exhibit professional and be courteous” and he didn’t do so in this situation. Encinia has been placed on administrative leave.
Bland was discovered dead in her jail cell on July 13, three days after her arrest. Waller County officials say she apparently hanged herself with a plastic trash can liner. The FBI, the District Attorney and the Texas Rangers are investigating.
Updated at 1:10 p.m. to correct reference to gender of Bland’s friend.
See also:
New York Times: “Assessing the Legality of Sandra Bland’s Arrest”
Updated July 24 to add link to New York Times.
