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Sandra Bland Found Dead in TX Jail, Police Say Suicide, Family Disagrees

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You know in any other job if person escalated a situation when someone was being a dick they would not keep their job. People are going to be dicks. It's pointless to even talk about. However, the people we pay to protect us should not be able to just lose their temper whenever they feel like it.
 

NIGHT-

Member
I'm usually highly negative against cops in these situations, but the way she reacted in the video, she was asking for trouble. Sad that this had to happen
 

there is a powerful message In this but it gets obfuscated by the family disputing so heavily at the front end that it could not have been a suicide. The flip side is that if the family did not take that posture, ms bland would have just been another jail suicide statistic in all likelihood and the police interactions and the jail negligence would have been dealt with outside the spotlight of social media. There have been 140 suicides in Texas jails since 2009, for reference.
 
Thanks for that, I'm clearly a sociopath, because almost every traffic stop, black, white, latino, asian, clearly ends with murder when people comply with an officer.

I mean, go ahead go get pulled over, be an asshole, maybe it'll save your life, you're right.



I'm just saying why not treat people like you want them to treat you.. yeah that's the golden rule and shit, and I'm not even religious.. I just believe there should be some standard of human fucking decency in interactions between people and that it goes both ways.

Civilians are entitled to have a bad day. As long as the actions taken by them aren't unlawful OR places the officer in any situation that they would have to defend themselves, what can you do? You are right, just being nice and respectful can go a long way, but the police can't reasonable expect that kind of positive attitude from EVERY person they pull over. They have to be prepared to deal with any kind of person and act accordingly WITHIN the law.

They can't make every civilian verbally respect them on a whim. I mean if they threaten their life, yeah take that seriously, but dropping a couple of f-bombs is not that situation.

I'm usually highly negative against cops in these situations, but the way she reacted in the video, she was asking for trouble. Sad that this had to happen

As I said to someone else, does your definition of "trouble" mean something illegal? Because that's what happened with the illegal arrest. Why would someone be asking to have something illegal done to them? I don't quite understand.
 
Thanks for that, I'm clearly a sociopath, because almost every traffic stop, black, white, latino, asian, clearly ends with murder when people comply with an officer.

I mean, go ahead go get pulled over, be an asshole, maybe it'll save your life, you're right.

You are more than welcome.

I've already had my share of being put into the back of police vehicles and handcuffs for complying when i've done nothing wrong. While someone else was there who they perceived as white(I know because he was not white but the called him in as Caucasian) was confessing to everything. That's what it's like when I get pulled over and am just in the car not even driving.

I've had my share of complying and having them treat me like a criminal for trying to get to work, home or school. Often enough to land me in trouble for attendance with my job and affect my attendance at school. They pull me over walking because I can't afford a car paying for school and rent.

Just comply to allowing them to treat my body like some violent weapon and me a criminal even though it's never proved true. Just comply to the making it more difficult for me to succeed economically through constant interruption because a black man trying to go home to work or to school is suspicious(Exactly this young woman's problem just trying to get a job while being black it's stressful)

I don't even just have the cops telling me how I need to treat them. I get an online brigade that wants to help out. I'm starting to see how Sandra could have felt helpless with no way out. Because it's hard to feel human when nobody wants to treat you that way.
 

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
Civilians are entitled to have a bad day. As long as the actions taken by them aren't unlawful OR places the officer in any situation that they would have to defend themselves, what can you do? You are right, just being nice and respectful can go a long way, but the police can't reasonable expect that kind of positive attitude from EVERY person they pull over. They have to be prepared to deal with any kind of person and act accordingly WITHIN the law.

They can't make every civilian verbally respect them on a whim. I mean if they threaten their life, yeah take that seriously, but dropping a couple of f-bombs is not that situation.

I agree with you, and again I've repeatedly said the cop was a dick and the asking her out was a dick move. Again though, Bland had choices to make during all this as well. There's 2 parts here, she choose the absolute worst path to ending this stop peacefully.

Is there an authority trip going on? Yeah, pretty obvious that asking her out was one. Everything after that though, that's on her.

I was raised to respect authority, but still question it. I'm liberal as fuck, I was 94% Bernie Sanders on that quiz... I believe we should pump shitloads of money into education in our poorest parts of the country, we should limit class sizes to 15 people in areas of poverty where access to education is lacking.. we should give free lunch to everyone, we need universal heathcare, I believe in affirmative action because corporations can't be trusted... I think all immigrants here now should be given amnesty if they are law-abiding, I believe the wars in the middle-east are unjust..

..yet I still feel like it's the right thing to do is treat police with some kind of respect and then expect them to give respect in tune. I fully expect to be treated like shit by people who I treat like shit.
 

Kite

Member
The autopsy results are out, didn't see anyone post this yet.

http://edition.cnn.com/2015/07/23/us/sandra-bland-arrest-death-main/

"There were no bite marks or other injuries on her face, on her lips, on her tongue, which would be consistent with a violent struggle," he said.

If there had been a violent struggle, the prosecutor said, examiners would most likely not expect to see a uniform and consistent mark around Bland's neck -- which is what they, in fact, observed. They also did not observe damage to her trachea and esophagus, which they might expect to see if there had been a violent struggle, he said.

She did have approximately 30 "cut marks," on her left wrist, according to Diepraam, which were in a state of healing. Bland also had lacerations or abrasions on her wrists, which are consistent with being handcuffed and struggling, he said.

Additionally, she had scabs on her back, on the right side of her shoulder blade, which could indicate that someone applied force there, or that she applied force against an object, Diepraam said. He told reporters Bland had marijuana in her system at the time of her death.

Although the early autopsy results offer, in his words, "very overwhelming evidence," Diepraam stressed to CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront" that the case is not closed.

"I feel comfortable that their findings are correct, but there's still a lot of information out there so we're not forming any conclusions at this point," he said. "Nothing is certain."
 
..yet I still feel like it's the right thing to do is treat police with some kind of respect and then expect them to give respect in tune. I fully expect to be treated like shit by people who I treat like shit.

But do you fully expect to have your civil rights violated by people who you treat like shit?

You see, you have yet to fully understand why happen in the dash. Being treated like shit does not give you the right to do unlawful acts upon someone else. We do agree that this had happen correct? I've yet to see anyone deny that it was an illegal arrest.
 

Kite

Member
What stood out from the report are the "30 cut marks on her left wrist".. was she cutting herself or were those injuries from the handcuffs? Kinda sounds like the former to me..
 

manfestival

Member
I dont understand why everything has to ignite hatred and race. Everyone is apparently racist nowdadays. This grows tiring from all perspectives. Did people forget the basic principle of two wrongs dont make a right?
 
What stood out from the report are the "30 cut marks on her left wrist".. was she cutting herself or were those injuries from the handcuffs? Kinda sounds like the former to me..

According to the authorities these were healing and predated the arrest. There were other hand injuries consistent with cuffs.
 

NervousXtian

Thought Emoji Movie was good. Take that as you will.
But do you fully expect to have your civil rights violated by people who you treat like shit?

You see, you have yet to fully understand why happen in the dash. Being treated like shit does not give you the right to do unlawful acts upon someone else. We do agree that this had happen correct? I've yet to see anyone deny that it was an illegal arrest.

It wasn't an illegal arrest at all.

She disobeyed a lawful order, then resisted him trying to her out of the car.. then she continually resisted after that.. she kept pulling away.

It's been said multiple times it wasn't illegal. He even told her why she was being arrested in the video.

Her civil rights weren't violated by law. He has the legal right to ask her to exit. Not illegal.. illegal is disobeying that order.

Still, again, and not sure why I gotta keep saying it, cop was a dick.
 

Pepiope

Member
It seems like they were both partially at fault. Bland seemed to be having a bad day, but she was extremely disrespectful to an officer, that's just stupid.

The officer should also be trained on how to handles situations like this better. Saying "Are you done?" is just going to get a rise out of an already upset Bland. However, she's still at fault, just comply with the officer and that would've been the end of it.

Still, again, and not sure why I gotta keep saying it, cop was a dick.
Yep, he was clearly a dick, but did he do anything wrong? No.
 
I dont understand why everything has to ignite hatred and race. Everyone is apparently racist nowdadays. This grows tiring from all perspectives. Did people forget the basic principle of two wrongs dont make a right?

Two wrongs don't make a right, but one person's dead.

And this continues to happen, so some of us would like to find out why. To maybe stop having people die.
 

Goreomedy

Console Market Analyst
I think it's shitty that the autopsy report was made public before the family could read the details (which they've been requesting)...
 

phaonaut

Member
Yep, he was clearly a dick, but did he do anything wrong? No.

He definitely did something wrong, just not illegal in the eyes of the law. There is no reason to escalate the situation as he did and you don't have to respect someone just because they filled out a job application.
 

Pepiope

Member
He definitely did something wrong, just not illegal in the eyes of the law. There is no reason to escalate the situation as he did and you don't have to respect someone just because they filled out a job application.
So he did nothing wrong. Cops can be dicks (just like every other profession), all you have to do is comply with them when they make lawful requests.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
So he did nothing wrong. Cops can be dicks (just like every other profession), all you have to do is comply with them when they make lawful requests.

You be a dick to a customer at a job you get fired.

You be a dick to a cop and suddenly you're deprived of your freedom because the cop is legally allowed to go off on an ego trip.

It's legal, but it is most certainly not right.
 
So he did nothing wrong. Cops can be dicks (just like every other profession), all you have to do is comply with them when they make lawful requests.

He did nothing illegal. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's right. You should not conflate the two. Otherwise one could say that slavery was right because for some time it was legal. That would be a stupid thing to say.
 
Not necessarily. I've worked places where if the customer is a dick first, the employee keeps their job and the customer is told their business is no longer welcome.

Must have not been a job where the employee had the ability to kill and arrest people when the customer did not. If you have that type of power, I expect a higher standard than a twenty-something barista.
 

Pepiope

Member
He did nothing illegal. Just because something is legal doesn't mean it's right. You should not conflate the two. Otherwise one could say that slavery was right because for some time it was legal. That would be a stupid thing to say.
It would be a stupid thing to say, because these situations aren't remotely similar. There is nothing wrong with an officer asking you to step out of the car.

He became a dick because of the way she spoke to him. That doesn't make it okay, and an officer should still be able to handle the situation better than that, but let's not try to act as if she didn't get herself into trouble. She disobeyed an officer. That always will be an incredibly stupid thing to do.
 
It would be a stupid thing to say, because these situations aren't remotely similar. There is nothing wrong with an officer asking you to step out of the car.

He became a dick because of the way she spoke to him. That doesn't make it okay, and an officer should still be able to handle the situation better than that, but let's not try to act as if she didn't get herself into trouble. She disobeyed an officer. That always will be an incredibly stupid thing to do.

Well said. She was given a hand and she played the wrong cards. It was a shitty situation but the outcome could have been much different for her if she simply got out of the vehicle.
 

Chococat

Member
..yet I still feel like it's the right thing to do is treat police with some kind of respect and then expect them to give respect in tune. I fully expect to be treated like shit by people who I treat like shit.

See this is wrong. While I do believe in treat other as you would like to be treated, this is the case where the two people are not equal.

The onus to be polite should be on the cops because by law they welded so much power over the average citizens lives. Their the ones for what ever perceived reason can toss you in jail based on a gut instinct. Even if the person is innocent, the loss of time, money, and jail time itself can reflect poorly a citizens personal and work reputation for the rest of their lives.

Also, citizens are humans. They natural have fight or flight response. Not all humans can control that natural response equally to show police respect in a calm manner. The most squeaky clean white person with no criminal record can be nervous in the presents of cops because some people are just natural wired that way. By the letter of the law, the cop could arrests said nervous person "cause they seem suspicious". But they follow the spirit of the law what justice would be served by tossing someone in jail over the weekend for a minor traffic violation.

A case can easily be made that in the case of Sandra the cop was following the letter of law- he had the legal right to arrest her. But by the spirit of the law, all that was required was to give her a warning/ticket for such a minor in fraction. What purpose did it server the public by throwing her in jail over the weekend?
 

Nivash

Member
Now that we should be able to lay the conspiracy theories to rest, maybe it's time we take a look at what actually happened here and if there's something to learn from it?

We hashed over the legal details a few pages back. From the look of it she was arrested for refusing to obey a lawful police order (to get out of the car) and for resisting arrest. Overall, it definitely looks like the police did nothing illegal. That should allow us to move on to the key question: was this right? Did this play out in a good way for anyone? I would argue that it didn't, no matter how you look at it. The officer initially intended to let her off with a warning. It's covered in the transcripts - he even showed it to her. Then he made a crucial decision - he decided to order her out of the car because he found her to be aggravating or hostile.

We don't really know why he did it. Once she started resisting the original reason became moot. We also don't know why she resisted although it appears she might have misunderstood her rights. However, there's something I find interesting - at the end of transcript the officer says that he "tried to de-escalate". Maybe he's lying, but say for a second that he wasn't - that he actually, honestly thought he tried to de-escalate.

In that case I think there are questions to be raised about just how he, and US police officers in general, define de-escalation, what training they have to achieve it and when they try to do it. In this case it obviously failed, miserably. The situation moved from a warning to resisting arrest and suicide. I suppose there is an argument to be made that police officers need to enforce compliance because they can't afford civilians to be hostile to them without consequence. I have a hard time buying that though. There should be a better way to do this.

The case of Sandra Bland should be used to show that needlessly escalating routine police interactions, whether intentionally or not, can have dire consequences. Efforts should be made to see how similar outcomes can be prevented in the future.
 

darscot

Member
I'm amazed at the number of people that are so brainwashed they just assume you must blindly obey the police or expect bad things to happen. It may even be true in the US but it's laughable in most modern countries. Situation like this just show how your police are more like the SS then modern police. How the fuck can you end up in jail for three days for failing to signal when a cop is driving up your ass.
 

Pepiope

Member
I'm amazed at the number of people that are so brainwashed they just assume you must blindly obey the police or expect bad things to happen. It may even be true in the US but it's laughable in most modern countries. Situation like this just show how your police are more like the SS then modern police. How the fuck can you end up in jail for three days for failing to signal when a cop is driving up your ass.
That's not why she was arrested, and I think you know that.
 

phaonaut

Member
It would be a stupid thing to say, because these situations aren't remotely similar. There is nothing wrong with an officer asking you to step out of the car.

He became a dick because of the way she spoke to him. That doesn't make it okay, and an officer should still be able to handle the situation better than that, but let's not try to act as if she didn't get herself into trouble. She disobeyed an officer. That always will be an incredibly stupid thing to do.

You talk about the officer like he's a wild animal and she should know better than to approach. Don't look them in the eyes, get into a fetal position...

Well said. She was given a hand and she played the wrong cards. It was a shitty situation but the outcome could have been much different for her if she simply got out of the vehicle.

Why is she to blame? and why do you have to bend over for police as if they are anointed by God. The reason police abuse civilians, is because people will protect them and they know it. Not just their union/fellow officers, but the very people in this thread.
 

darscot

Member
That's not why she was arrested, and I think you know that.

Resisting arrest, failing to obey a lawful order, that shit would never fly anywhere else. A cop can not pull that shit in Canada. The police just arrested a guy in a sky train station, he matched the description of a suspect. They pepper sprayed him grabbed him threw him against a wall pinned him down and arrested him. Both officers where convicted of assault, I do not believe the man was injured. People are just so accustom to this shit in the US they think its normal.
 

entremet

Member
This is just a sad story all around.

Looks like the stress of being arrested and possibly charged, put her over the edge.

RIP.
 

Pepiope

Member
You talk about the officer like he's a wild animal and she should know better than to approach. Don't look them in the eyes, get into a fetal position...
He should be treated with respect, just as anyone else. He's just doing a job, and disobeying an officer could be an indication that she was trying to hide something. All you have to do is follow an officer's lawful request, and it would have been over. I don't speak of him as if he's a wild animal, I speak of him as if he's an officer.
 

Zornack

Member
Why is she to blame? and why do you have to bend over for police as if they are anointed by God. The reason police abuse civilians, is because people will protect them and they know it. Not just their union/fellow officers, but the very people in this thread.

Complying with an officer's completely legal order to leave your vehicle is bending over from them as if they're a god?

People really need to know what their rights are in these sorts of situations and that includes knowing what police are allowed to order you to do. The spread of misinformation is dangerous and it's obvious Sandra, like many other in this thread, had no idea what her rights were.

Rooting yourself and refusing to comply with an officer is illegal.
 

DrForester

Kills Photobucket
He should be treated with respect.

But she has every right to be an asshole if she wants to be. An officer should not be allowed to escalate the situation and humiliate her just because she wasn't polite. Yes, she's a jerk for not putting out the cigarette. No, the officer had no business asking her to exit the car because she did not cease her lawful activity.

It's not much different than a cop grabbing recording devices. It's a totally unnecessary escalation of a peaceful situation.

This cop is incompetent and is not mentally stable. He has no business being a police officer if a woman smoking sets him off like that.
 

NIGHT-

Member
I'm amazed at the number of people that are so brainwashed they just assume you must blindly obey the police or expect bad things to happen. It may even be true in the US but it's laughable in most modern countries. Situation like this just show how your police are more like the SS then modern police. How the fuck can you end up in jail for three days for failing to signal when a cop is driving up your ass.


She only got a warning for the failure to signal. Watch the video.....
 
That's not why she was arrested, and I think you know that.

Who gives a fuck. Failure to signal started the whole series of events where the police officer got petty. Put out your cig? Get out of the car as though it matters if if you are just going to get a warning. "I'm gonna light your ass up". Are people really.so motherfucking daft that we don't expect people we give guns money and a shit ton of authority to exercise the sligjtest of restraint when they are dealing with annoyed citizens? Okay then.
 
It would be a stupid thing to say, because these situations aren't remotely similar. There is nothing wrong with an officer asking you to step out of the car.

He became a dick because of the way she spoke to him. That doesn't make it okay, and an officer should still be able to handle the situation better than that, but let's not try to act as if she didn't get herself into trouble. She disobeyed an officer. That always will be an incredibly stupid thing to do.

It would be a stupid thing to say because of the logic of conflating the two different terms leads to shoddy logic and untruthful statements.

They are very similar unless you just think the origins of the police in this nation are sunshine and roses and not to make black people comply.

I don't care why he became a dick. She shouldn't have had to exit the vehicle for a ticket. Him wanting to harm her is a pretty good reason for her to disobey that officer.
 

railGUN

Banned
He should be treated with respect.

But she has every right to be an asshole if she wants to be. An officer should not be allowed to escalate the situation and humiliate her just because she wasn't polite. Yes, she's a jerk for not putting out the cigarette. No, the officer had no business asking her to exit the car because she did not cease her lawful activity.

It's not much different than a cop grabbing recording devices. It's a totally unnecessary escalation of a peaceful situation.

This cop is incompetent and is not mentally stable. He has no business being a police officer if a woman smoking sets him off like that.

He could have asked her to step out immediately, before she started smoking. That's the law, and she isn't above it. That she thought she knew her rights when she clearly didn't is a dangerous game to play. There was ample opportunity to comply, and she resisted at every point.

It's bullshit that he can do what he did, but she's not going to change the law, there, on the side of the road. Her biggest mistake was being mistaken about her rights. I feel for her and her family, the cop was a dick and doesn't deserve to wear a badge but life just doesn't work that way. What's fair, and what's law are two different things, and the latter trumps the former. It's a sad state of affairs in the U.S. regarding minorities and the police and hopefully things change sooner than later
 

Pepiope

Member
Who gives a fuck. Failure to signal started the whole series of events where the police officer got petty. Put out your cig? Get out of the car as though it matters if if you are just going to get a warning. "I'm gonna light your ass up". Are people really.so motherfucking daft that we don't expect people we give guns money and a shit ton of authority to exercise the sligjtest of restraint when they are dealing with annoyed citizens? Okay then.
We all do. Isn't that the point of this whole thing? Look at what actually happened, and don't just rant about how upset you are because reasons.
 
That said... can you imagine talking to a cop like that? I'm a white man and it's all "yes sir, no sir, I'm sorry about that officer". Not out of respect, but because the cops can really fuck up your shit. Not to mention they're armed.

I have. I am often terrified of cops; a cop getting behind me on the road can induce panic. I grew up poor and around drugs and I saw my parents abused by police.

But on the occasions I have been stopped for bullshit reasons by cops clearly just trying to lord over me? You better believe I will not bow down for that. And because I am a white woman who no longer appears to be terribly poor, I have never so much as been asked to step out of my vehicle.

I cannot speculate as to how you cannot imagine this kind of behavior. I have some guesses, but I will not make assumptions, and at the end of the day, our experiences and personal identities mean little. However, speaking for myself, I am terribly tired of the kinds of things I've seen in this very thread, opinions that set officers up as all-powerful physical embodiments of the law. They are human beings. Some are flawed. Some are abusive. And they should not be allowed to exist in that role when they are that way, but they are. We should not accept that.

I am astonished at people defending this man when his own superiors said he acted improperly. Maybe they said it because of the attention. I cannot speculate on that either. But it is still utterly staggering to me to see people saying oh, he was fine. Totally right.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Now that we should be able to lay the conspiracy theories to rest, maybe it's time we take a look at what actually happened here and if there's something to learn from it?

We hashed over the legal details a few pages back. From the look of it she was arrested for refusing to obey a lawful police order (to get out of the car) and for resisting arrest. Overall, it definitely looks like the police did nothing illegal. That should allow us to move on to the key question: was this right? Did this play out in a good way for anyone? I would argue that it didn't, no matter how you look at it. The officer initially intended to let her off with a warning. It's covered in the transcripts - he even showed it to her. Then he made a crucial decision - he decided to order her out of the car because he found her to be aggravating or hostile.

We don't really know why he did it. Once she started resisting the original reason became moot. We also don't know why she resisted although it appears she might have misunderstood her rights. However, there's something I find interesting - at the end of transcript the officer says that he "tried to de-escalate". Maybe he's lying, but say for a second that he wasn't - that he actually, honestly thought he tried to de-escalate.

In that case I think there are questions to be raised about just how he, and US police officers in general, define de-escalation, what training they have to achieve it and when they try to do it. In this case it obviously failed, miserably. The situation moved from a warning to resisting arrest and suicide. I suppose there is an argument to be made that police officers need to enforce compliance because they can't afford civilians to be hostile to them without consequence. I have a hard time buying that though. There should be a better way to do this.

The case of Sandra Bland should be used to show that needlessly escalating routine police interactions, whether intentionally or not, can have dire consequences. Efforts should be made to see how similar outcomes can be prevented in the future.

Maybe they should teach meditation to police officers. Not joking, seems like it'd be good for people whose regular interactions with non-police are probably going to be confrontational.

In terms of remedies, police departments being much more stringent about following protocols seems like the only real option here. It's obviously not illegal, but it's wasting everyone's time and resources.

I'm not entirely sure what possible lessons and areas for improvement there are in regards to the jail. While the family seems like they were in denial about their daughter's mental health issues, it seems like they had opportunities to try and prevent this situation from happening. God knows if people want to commit suicide, they're going to do it, but a few simple steps might have been enough to avoid it in this case.
 
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