Posted on 07/22/2015 8:09:54 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg
(CNN)Anger over Sandra Bland's death in a Texas jail has boiled over after newly released video showed what happened at the traffic stop that led to her arrest.
Now, many question whether she should have been arrested at all.
The dashcam video shows Texas state Trooper Brian Encinia pulling Bland over July 10 for allegedly failing to use her turn signal. What started as normal conversation gets testy after Encinia asks her to put out her cigarette.
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
LOL...I’m really not trying to. So many people misunderstand the law and have little experience with LEOs from the cop’s perspective. I’m not trying to defend this cop’s attitude, good or bad. But the law is the law. Everyone makes choices, but they are accountable for their own choices. Yes, the cop could have been nicer, but he didn’t break the law. She could have been nicer too since she did break the law. Every decision prompts a reaction and in this case, her actions caused her to go to jail.
There is a saying that a cop has the discretion to give a ticket or a warning, but the driver can always talk themselves into the ticket.
I’m reminded of that black activist that criticized some of the recent police shootings until he went through a shoot house with Sheriff Araipao. After that experience, he understood the cop’s perspective and recanted his previous insults against the cops. We need more of that.
I promise that any person the DPS troopers catch for speeding always complain that the cop should have stopped the some other speeder or some other person that didn’t use a signal instead of them. She just happened to have been the person caught this time.
Instead of saying the same stupid, immature things over and over. Please tell me your suggestions....
So no laws should ever be enforced or followed or just those laws that you like??
Sorry but a properly trained LEO without an ego wouldn't allow himself to escalate a routine traffic stop into an arrest regardless of what was being said to him.
From a sports perspective, you will never see a baseball umpire get into a shouting match with a player or a manager. He'll just stand there and once he's had enough of the abuse, he ejects them from the game........
In the case of these types of LEO's, it's their DEMAND for compliance that is getting them into trouble..........
They have no desire to put their pull overs into the proper perspective and instead choose to exert their authority beyond what the circumstances actually call for.......
That’s OK my cousin is a well known defense attorney in Fla. I know exactly how to handle a cop stop.
The last time I got pulled over by a cop I saw him combing his hair in the rear view mirror before he got out of his patrol car. So when he asked if I knew why he pulled me over I didn’t answer I just smiled. LOL!
I agree that his attitude or ego, good or bad, is a question for his department.
However, nothing he did violated the law. His orders, whether necessary or not, were reasonable, valid, lawful orders and she is REQUIRED by law to comply.
She should have complied and been on her way and then she could have contacted his supervisor, the AG, or the Rangers to complain. Her decision to refuse the lawful orders and her choice to fight the cop is what got her in jail regardless of his ego. She made bad choices.
Since when did we, as a society, lose all accountability for our own actions? Even if he was a jerk, she is still responsible for her own actions and she still should have followed the law.
Seriously?
She went to jail for lane changing without a signal and then died.
You are OK with a lane change ticket leading to death?
It was THE COP who escalated - not her. I would have been pissed off too. Do you want everyone to OBEY OR ELSE, CITIZEN!
What if he demanded she get out and quack like a duck- then when she refuse he arrested her for fighting him...
The COP was out of control.
This could have ended at the traffic ticket. But he insisted she RESPECK HIS AUTHORITAH!!!!!!
And now she is dead.
And the video shows signs of being edited, so we’ll never know what happened in between, but I bet they would not have removed it- if it made the cop look good.
That won’t work in TX...sorry.
She went to jail for assaulting a police officer. How hard is that to understand??
Her death had no relation to the stop and happened 3 days after the stop. So your saying if someone gets pulled over today and a week later dies of a heart attack, it is somehow the cops fault? The cop didn’t have access to her jail cell. Who knows, she may have killed herself 3 days later, even if he let her go.
She broke the traffic laws, then she chose to refuse his lawful and reasonable orders to put out the cig, she chose to refuse his lawful order to exit the vehicle, and she chose to fight the cop. Those were all her choices; not his. His request, whether necessary or not, was legal and lawful so she was required to comply whether she agreed with it or not.
Yes, a lawful order must be obeyed or else. If you don’t like the law then change it. Otherwise it is the law and must be obeyed. How hard is that to understand??
“So you are saying that the DA has a conclusion looking for an investigation?”
No, not at all. I was just responding to another freeper who was taking issue with my original assertion that the DA there was looking at this as if it were a murder not a suicide. My guess is that he doesn’t want to eliminate the possibility of foul play until the evidence is conclusive that it wasn’t. And I think that everyone wants to know just why this woman was languishing in jail for forgetting to signal a lane change.
I’ve tried to inform everyone, but investigating a potential suicide as a homicide is standard protocol in TX. All potential suicides are investigate as potential homicides until the coroner makes the final determination after the autopsy.
I’ve seen several cops drive up on a guy as he shot himself in a car. It was on camera as a suicide, but still had to have the full crime scene investigation done. It was preliminarily ruled a suicide, but investigated as a homicide until the coroner made the final determination about 30-180 days later. It is standard practice and not anything unusual.
Properly trained LEO's are taught NOT to be jerks.......And you just contradicted your own statement........
Ah yes, the good ol' "masking other smells" canard...
I didn’t contradict myself at all. People in any job are trained not to be jerks, but I’ve seen jerk teachers, doctors, etc. It just happens. However, him being a jerk may warrant better training, but is not illegal.
Her actions WERE illegal. Her refusals WERE illegal.
He could have handled it better or differently, but nothing he did was unlawful. She could also have handled is better or differently, but her actions were unlawful. Nothing in his bad attitude forced her to break the law. She chose to do that all on her own.
He is accountable for his actions, hence he is suffering the consequences by being put on desk duty, pending an investigation.
She is accountable for her actions, hence she went to jail.
You’re argument that his bad attitude forced her or allowed her the right to violate the law is stupid. She made her own choices and is accountable for her own actions.
He could have told her to put the cig out just cause he wanted to and didn’t like the smoke. Regardless, his request was a legal, lawful order and she was required to comply. It isn’t a canard. It is the law.
Law, schmaw.
Sometimes, the law is an ass.
And, just because something's "the law" doesn't mean everybody is going to meekly submit to it.
It's the proliferation of so many ridiculous "laws" which has so many Americans scoffing at it nowadays...
Good God, yours is the dumbest post I have seen yet.
You don’t seem to be able to follow a little bouncing ball going from word to word.
IT BOGGLES MY MIND HOW STUPID PEOPLE REALLY ARE!!!
FFS.
Also, any argument that she only had to comply with the cop if he was nice is also BS. Under this argument nobody would ever get arrested so the cops couldn’t even arrest any murders or rapists because I have yet to see a criminal that appreciated getting arrested or loved their arresting officer.
Seems like he wants to eliminate the possibility of it NOT being foul play.
And no, everyone does not want to know why she was languishing in jail.
She was in jail for ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER, not because she failed to signal a lane change.
Try and follow now, I know it’s hard for you.
She was languishing in jail for ASSAULTING A POLICE OFFICER, because no one came to bail her out.
She is dead, because SHE HUNG HERSELF WITH A TRASH BAG.
It’s pretty DAMN SIMPLE.
Then change the law. That is your prerogative. I don’t care how, but do it.
I don’t like speeding laws, but if I speed and crash into your car and kill one of your family members then I’m sure you’ll want that law enforced regardless of what I think of it...simply because it is the law.
Until the law is replaced or changed, we are all bound by it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.