Ongoing U.S Police Brutality and Corruption Discussion Thread

A lot can happen in 90 minutes

the video was supposedly motion-activated, so there are gaps in it even when it's not been tampered with, if nothing in frame moves.

the dash footage makes it clear that the officer wasn't following procedures (like the authorities say), and it also depicts bland as supremely confident that she didn't do anything meriting her treatment, and berating the officer for being a pussy once he removes her from the car and starts jerking her around, trying to cuff her.

some people are saying the dash footage shows clear signs of (bad) editing

http://bennorton.com/dashcam-video-of-violent-arrest-of-sandra-bland-was-edited/

on the texas DPS youtube channel's copy of the footage, the audio appears to be continuous e.g. while the officer is back in his car recounting the arrest on a phone call, but there are loops in the video

the video was supposedly motion-activated, so there are gaps in it even when it's not been tampered with, if nothing in frame moves.

I guess I'm confused about whether there's supposed to be, like, continuous footage of a hallway which is the only entrance to her cell, or whether there's something way less than that.

i think it's supposed to be in principle continuous for every stretch with motion? but nothing continuous over the entire real period of time, including motionless stretches? or did you mean something else?

man that is a spectacularly painful thing to listen to

that looping in the video does look p suspicious

(the arrest video)

Watched that this morning on the news. Is there any law that would compel her to put out her cigarette, other than just the cop ordering her to?

So, I've just been researching this, and the fucked up thing is that I can't find anything legally improper about the cop's arrest, at least the first segment of it. Basically our Supreme Court has upheld the ability of cops to be complete shitheads in many ways during a traffic stop. In specific response to Dan's question about the cigarette, IDK, but can the officer pull her over for not signaling a lane change? Yes. Can he order her out of the vehicle? Yes. Can he arrest her just for not signaling? Yes. Can he search her as part of that arrest? Yes.

This is an important point because it shows how this is not just about "bad apples" but about a system that enables this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/07/22/a-trooper-arrested-sandra-bland-after-she-refused-to-put-out-a-cigarette-was-it-legal/

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2015/07/22/what-cops-are-saying-about-the-sandra-bland-video/

i know it's just a blog but the washington post relying on commentary from fucking reddit in this matter is gross

what do you expect them to actually have objective police officer/sources of their own or something

new media everybody

Depressing. But PLEASE, if anyone in that video was "agitated", it was the officer. His voice was quavering when he asked her to put out her cigarette. The tone in that alone was far too aggressive. She is amazing for responding as CALMLY as she did. I was impressed. Dude was intimidating from the start.

How is Bland supposed to know what the law is when the stop is a minor traffic violation?

Quite frankly, Bland sounds aggravated and verbally aggressive in that clip. But so what? Responding to verbal aggression with physical action is the behavior of a bully. I would expect (and honestly demand) that a police officer not actively escalate a potential problem just because either they or anyone they pull over was having a bad day. The instant he allows it to escalate, he starts getting out of control. If he had just let Bland be angry, they both would've driven away.

She's not threatening him. She's not suggesting she's not following his orders. She's suggesting that she's aware she has rights and intends to patrol them. The cop took that personally and not a minute after he takes the bait, he's threatening to "light her up". He's not the aggrieved party.

i've seen some speculation about reasons for ordering someone to put their cigarette out, but it's hard not to take it as a power move - give a needless order you expect them to refuse so you can escalate within spitting distance of the rules

^^^

these issues are all kind of incidental to how she ended up dead tbh, I doubt the traffic cop went into her cell and murdered her but something shifty def appears to have happened

haha right i guess i feel like it must all be right there (wish it could be) because you know the rest of the shit they come up with for the period from then to the hallway video is going to be all handled and muddled to hell

it seems to me that there's a reasonable argument that the method of arrest provides a good motive for why she would've been killed in custody: so that she couldn't testify or implicate this police officer when this case came to trial

that would only be 'reasonable' if it depended on officer's-state-of-mind somehow to cover the insane disproportion in killing a citizen over a shitty arrest, and it didn't matter that any such state of mind seems hella unreasonable

this is really scary footage too. the cop racing after his prey.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86SR84lRMAc

Black! *immediate u-turn*

How come no sound on that til the end?

Or does the sound only come on once they switch on their lights or something

When I said I thought she was "calm", I meant she was calm in the car, when he said she seemed agitated. Also she was smoking that cigarette while he was at his car. The way he told her to put it out was so bitchy, it wasn't an earnest request.

crazy how fast he goes to catch up to her so that she can end up dead in a jail cell.

Of course she is agitated, she is getting followed by police for no reason in Texas and then getting pulled over for (almost) no reason when she tries to pull aside hoping in vain that the cop just wants to pass.

She's seen the movie before and quite possibly starred in it, she knows what happens next.

I got pulled over recently and the cop did the "you seem agitated" thing with me too. Of course I'm agitated, you're a cop and you just pulled me over.

my friend and I once got made to get out his car and be searched by police because i "seemed nervous". no duh.

hey it's just a guy who could murder you for no reason, chill out

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/20/us/sandra-bland-arrest-death-videos-maps.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=photo-spot-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

the times story has blow-by-blow legal commentary on the initial stop now

Even amid all the other b.s. that "Are you done?" really makes me grind my teeth. That is Power Trip 101.

http://www.salon.com/2015/07/22/fundraiser_for_baltimore_cops_charged_in_freddie_grays_death_to_feature_blackface_performance/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

oh, it's been cancelled.

http://www.theonion.com/blogpost/do-you-know-why-im-pulling-you-over-being-wildly-a-50916

The "official" Sandra Bland story has become literally unbelievable: Bland was apparently deeply depressed and, though furious about her arrest and not depressive in the eyes of her friends and family, opted to share her pain with intake officers... who nonetheless neglected to take any steps to safeguard her from being injured though they believed she was potentially a danger to herself. Then, while still in custody, she either smoked or ate some marijuana then, while waiting to be released on bail so that she could start her new job and press charges against a cop that acted improperly on camera, instead hung herself with a conveniently available garbage bag.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/us/autopsy-of-sandra-bland-finds-injuries-consistent-with-suicide-prosecutor-says.html

Didn't know whether to put this in here or Racism, but Jesus Fucking Christ, what the fuck?

http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/bobby-berger-blackface-fundraiser-canceled

Michael's Eighth Avenue in Glen Burnie, Maryland, the venue that was reported to host former police officer Bobby Berger's planned fundraiser, said in a statement late Wednesday that the event would not be held there.

"Bobby Berger will not host a fundraiser at Michael’s Eighth Avenue for the six Baltimore police officers charged in the arrest and death of Freddie Gray," the statement read. "No contract was signed with Mr. Berger. Michael’s does not condone blackface performances of any kind."

see four posts above yours

Bah, thanks.

CNN with legal discussion:

Was Sandra Bland traffic stop legal and fair?
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/23/opinions/cevallos-sandra-bland-traffic-stop/index.html

The "official" Sandra Bland story has become literally unbelievable

Man, this is OTM. It's like total black is white, up is down territory. If they're going to lie, they might as well make it plausible. If it was just a tragic series of coincidences, then they're doing a terrible job backing up their ridiculous defense, and at this point even doing that would come so late as to raise further doubts. Even reposting the allegedly edited video, "fixing" whatever problems it had, the replacement video is still missing several minutes, and lacks a time-stamp. It's like this super collision of small town cop incompetence. They're not even good at thin blue line lying, which is cop 101.

Devil's advocate here: would you admit to depression in police intake forms if it means a possibility of clemency while in their custody?

in my experience, the only time clemency is given is if someone reports active suicidal ideation --- at which point they are transferred from jail to the emergency department for evaluation

Her admission of depression, as well as admitting to losing a baby, both details supposedly totally unknown to her friends and family, does seem like a weird thing to admit in a police intake form, especially given that she had to be dragged in there against her will under disingenuous pretenses in cuffs and under threat of taser. IMO.

i am extremely skeptical of the official reporting of events in this case, but will say that it is not uncommon at all for pts with depression, miscarriage, suicidal ideation, etc, to keep that secret from their loved ones (as i'm sure some ilxors know v well)

Sure, it just seems weird that she would be cooperative at all, really. Why would she even relate the specific details of a miscarriage to the police, even if it was true? Given she knows her arrest is bullshit and even insists earlier she doesn't need to do anything more than identify herself? I don't know how arrests/booking or whatever work. But given that almost every other aspect of the official accounts scans as false or inaccurate, Occam's razor seems to be in play here.