Waller County: 'Illegal' Lane Change leads to Death

I think what was rude was the cop trying to escalate the situation by asking her to put out the cigarette in the first place.

 

...and saying "you sound irritated," and "you done?"

Three separate escalations in the space of about two minutes on the part of the one person who is supposed to be the professional in the situation.

 

I'm late to this thread...

Not as interested in the pull-over, really. It's on tape, we can see what happened. Cop was being a dick. Woman was also not well composed. Illegal, not illegal... whatever (not saying that to diminish the fact that cops should of course act within the confines of the law and be cordial where appropriate, just saying it because it is not entirely what interests me here).

All I'm curious about... did she kill herself, or is it some kind of massive cover-up?

 

Absolutely agree with this.

 

This is a clear cut case of a officer being a Dick and creating a bigger problem.

 

The woman is still responsible for her actions. The cop didn't cause her to refuse to obey with a lawful order, the cop didn't cause her to assault the officer, the cop didn't cause her friends and family to abandon her, the cop didn't cause her to kill herself.

That was all her.

Even if, for the sake of argument, I accept that the cop "escalated" the situation by asking her to put out her cigarette, it still doesn't excuse her actions. She was a grown woman, not a 5 year old, not an animal that can't control themselves.

A fully adult human can control themselves, and is expected to do so. As such, when they fail to do so, there are consequences.

"He said a rude thing" is not a legitimate excuse for refusing to comply with a lawful order, or for assaulting a police officer.

It's incredibly unlikely. She was someone with a history of depression and at least one previous suicide attempt.

The video showed no one entering her cell from the last time she was seen alive till she was found dead and none of the other prisoners heard or saw anything.

 

That's not at all what happened. This person killed herself because she got herself thrown in jail and no one cared enough about her to bail her out before her first day of work. There was no "bullying" going on here.

 

It doesn't matter... Black folks should know better than to hold court in the streets with cops and or to talk back to them.

He bullied her by F'n with her in the 1st place... Nothing she did prevented him from giving her the ticket/citation and going back to his job of protecting and serving (so they call it). It's amazing that in over 100 post in this thread that not once did you consider the cop wasn't within the rights of the law to F with that woman. You act like the cop's superiors came out cheering him own and congratulated the outstanding job he did.

 

I don't really have a problem with the way the cop handled the situation. There is something called a pretext stop (which isn't what was happening here), where the cop will pull someone over for one thing (think broken tail light) to see if they can find something else. I think this cop noticed how odd the woman was acting, and decided to see if there was something else going on. She provided him all the leash he needed to search her, arrest her, and haul her off to jail. To act like asking someone to put out a cigarette or step out of their car is some great affront that requires the cop be fired is laughable. If that escalates a situation, it is because the other person has a hair trigger.

I have gotten a ticket. I was irritated that I was getting pulled over. The cop made a smartass remark about how my driving was "insane". I was polite, the cop was otherwise polite, he marked me down for the minimum fine and we both went about our day. I could have flown off the handle at him, but what would that benefit me? I have also seen people mouth off and get taken off to jail.

It seems like it needs to be repeated in every thread that involves cops. Don't shoot at cops, don't run away, be polite, do what the cop tells you to. That is how you avoid jail and/or death.

 

That's not an assumption, it's pretty evident. She begged everyone she knew to bail her out before she was supposed to be at work, no one did. In fact, they just stopped taking her calls.

It's another reason why I can't take those "friends" and family members of hers seriously when they speak out about this, if they REALLY cared about her, she wouldn't have spent the weekend in jail and she'd be alive right now. They didn't so I don't want to hear them run their mouth.

 

Again, whether she does or doesn't have a hair trigger isn't the issue. The issue is that the cop should have been professional and not fishing for ways and escalating egging the woman on.

Is that really what you want from your law enforcement officials? You want officers that are going to try and egg people on in order to set them off so they can be busted?

I'd rather have officers that try and de-escalate situations, protect, serve, and keep the peace whenever possible. This officer did not do that. He was less than professional. I don't know what actions should be taken against him whether it be reassignment, job termination, or something different. I just know he isn't an exemplary law enforcement officer.

As was said in the video from Rocket River, black people shouldn't have to strategize on how to deal with cops trying to escalate situations. That isn't the way it's supposed to work.

 

The only reasons one would need to "strategize" on how to deal with cops would be

1. You are inherently a really disrespectful, rude, person that isn't in any way in control of your emotions and are prone to temper tantrums and/or bouts of violence.

2. You are almost constantly doing illegal things that cops would be on the lookout for and need to have a strategy of how to avoid getting caught breaking the law.

Either way, those are both personal shortcomings that have nothing to do with one's race.

 

Unfortunately that isn't true. The cop pulled over, asked her a question. The woman answered the question. That's all she did. The cop escalated from that point on, and kept doing it.

It would be nice if those were the only two circumstances if that were the case, but clearly it isn't.

But again, if number 1 is a circumstance, you would hope that law enforcement officials would be professional enough to deal with that and would have the skills and training necessary to de-escalate situations where they deal with people who have the issues you listed in number 1.

 

What's unfortunate is that Sandra Bland was a disrespectful, rude, person that wasn't in any way in control of her emotions and was prone to temper tantrums and/or bouts of violence....because of that, she needed a strategy session to try and figure out how to not be herself when interacting with law enforcement.

Perhaps she was that way in general and that's why no one cared enough about her to bail her out of jail before she killed herself.

It's all really unfortunate, but not something that the vast majority of the world needs to worry about.

 

I think the general populace should be concerned about cops that use their authority to bully people, and aren't capable of behaving professionally.

It may not be the top concern, but certainly it is worth a moment of concern when the people sworn to serve and protect are incapable of behaving professionally.

 

I just don't see anything that this officer did as something most people would have to worry about....and I certainly don't see it as "bullying" like a few people have tried to suggest.

Most people simply get out of the car when the officer tells them to and they sign their warning ticket and go about their business....hell most people never even get to that point because they don't act a fool when they are pulled over.

It's probably not the top concern, but adults who can't obey the law and stay in control of their emotions probably belong in jail.

 

I never claimed the cop "caused" anything. However, he did escalate the situation several different times. He goaded her, prodded her, and when she showed a crack in her attitude, he bullied, threatened, and then manhandled her.

Even if you don't accept it, he escalated the situation at least three separate times. Then, when she reacted in a less than completely polite way, he exploded on her, screamed at her, and threatened her with bodily harm.

And she did, right up until the cop started threatening to drag her out of the car or tase her.

He threatened to drag her out of the car and pulled out his taser, that is quite a bit more than being rude.

I agree that it is extremely unlikely that anyone harmed the woman but herself.

 

Her friend lied to her and didn't bail her out. She was pissed at that. Maybe that set her over the edge, but who knows. More important than the cop arresting her which I agree that is debatable (and I don't care either way if the dude is fired), is the evidence pointing to her being depressed and suicidal. The jail should have had her on suicide watch. Everything else before is really about hurt feelings and what's right/wrong...I get it. It's a debate worth having. That said, the most important thing is trying to protect life. Ultimately, a suicidal person might not be stopped, but if the signs are there, there should be steps taken to help prevent it.