Waller County: 'Illegal' Lane Change leads to Death

My point in bringing that up was that I find it confusing that she suddenly has all this family support but they couldn't pay $500 to get her out... seems strange.

 

Well, she miraculously found a cop willing to order her to get out of her car because she wouldn't put out her cigarette in her own vehicle.

 

Perhaps they think she needed time to chill out. She wasn't exactly the calm and supportive person her new job description desired. Three license suspensions and she still weaves in and out of lanes without signaling? In a metropolitan area that weaving in and out of lanes without signalling causing horrific accidents and grid lock traffic. At first I sympathized with the victim in this case but the more that I look into it she seemed full of rage and spite.

 

In today's congested and risky driving world a person that fails to signal and has three prior suspensions prior should be taken off the road and not be operating a motor vehicle immediately. That type of behavior is bound to kill numerous, especially on the highways.

 

Amazing deflection of the professional officer who apparently needs to be coddled.

 

I've just watched the dashcam video and read through this thread and agree with Nook that while she certainly made things worse for herself by not being cooperative the LEO is also to blame. The stop seemed pretty routine up until the point he asked her what was wrong and why she was irritated. I'm not sure what he was expecting her to say, that she was happy he pulled her over? Once she gave him an honest answer, probably something she shouldn't have, he starts getting irate leading to the confrontation.

Seeing the video I don't see how any other conclusion can be drawn that the LEO wasn't irate and overreacting. You can hear it clearly in the pause of his tone after she gives him the answer to his question of why she is irritated.

As far as the whether it is a lawful order I agree having her get out of the car was lawful. I'm not so clear about putting out the cigarette. I think it is obvious she could've avoided the situation by complying with that first order. I don't think that excuses the LEO's reaction as it isn't clear that order is one out of safety since he is intending to have her come out of the car. Considering he later says that this was just over a warning I think that shows he wasn't going to do anything further until he became irritated with her behavior.

 

Except why does he say that he was only going to give her a warning until she became non-compliant? He seems very calm after he runs her info but then only becomes irrate after she says why she is feeling irritated. If he saw that she had prior DUI's and felt that there was good reason to search shouldn't as soon as he ran her info told her to step out and initiate the search rather than having a conversation? Why does he tell her that she was just getting a warning instead of telling her his suspicions that she might be under the influence?

 

Also, the officer is BLATANTLY LYING in his report. He reports that the cause of the arrest was because of assault on a public servant because she allegedly elbowed the police officer. However, it explicitly shows in the dash cam video that the officer stated that she was under arrest while she was still seated in the vehicle. She asked why she was under arrest and he answered because she was disobeying a lawful order not because of assault.

 

Ok, but yet how did the first person, not get a ticket?

 

Some of the arguments in favor of the officer are not coherent and contradict each other as rocketsjudoka mentioned.
At first the officer was apparently kind by letting her off with a warning but now it's he was suspicious of her and that is why he ordered her to step out of the vehicle.

That argument just doesn't add up in the dash cam. Where in the video does it suggest that he ordered her to exit the car because of suspicion? All I see is a civilian said no to an officer's request and the officer became butt hurt. If that is not what you see then you are an idiot.

 

As usual you are more succinct than I am.

 

"Probing" maybe. Not sure. He probably didn't have any cause to do those things. I mean, you can't just search a car because of past acts, I don't think. Wouldn't think that's enough reasonable cause.

I also don't know that, if it was me, I would have gone through all the trouble. If it was me, I'd be thinking "it's hot, I need to get back to the AC." But I'm also not trained to try to sniff out the bad guys.

I think every can agree the guy went over board. But, did him going over board really lead to her death? Or was that inevitable?

Anytime you hear about a suicide, people's friends never say stuff like "they were always trying to commit suicide." It's always, "they seemed pretty happy, I just talked to them last week!"

 

There are two discussions about this incident. The first discussion is in regards to whether the officer was in the wrong which most here agree he was. The other discussion is about what exactly happened to her at the jail cell. No one is blaming the officer for her death at the moment and shouldn't. That is a ridiculously premature claim.

However, the officer regardless of whether or not she committed suicide, should be fired. The video clearly shows an officer who puts forth ego and pride before service to the community.

 

Cop's demands for Bland to get out of her vehicle being a lawful order appears to be a gray area that's probably more lawful than not. Some legal experts have questioned his authority to force Bland out. I think that status quo should be challenged and changed with officers requiring more reason and transparency to order a civilian.

Like others said, cops have all the power and more experience with the law. That power is ripe for abuse which happens all the time. The American public's trust of police officers is extremely low, so more transparency should help that image. The cop also ordered the recording bystander to leave and turn off his camera, which is perfectly legal for the bystander to do. Another point lost for the cop.

Cops shouldn't be able to force citizens to do things because their feelings are hurt.

 

I don't think he was looking to give tickets for minor traffic offenses, just pulling people over to tell them to be more careful and whatnot while looking for more serious offenders. With the system set up the way it is, he knew the first person had insurance, they just weren't carrying an insurance card with them so he told that person to have their father e-mail it to them so they'd have it in the future. The only real thing that person was pulled over for was speeding, and he just issued them a warning for it. I think that shows that this cop wasn't out to be a dick to anyone because with most cops, that's 2 tickets.

Given Bland's oddly hostile behavior, previous possession charge, and DUI arrest, the cop probably thought that she was hiding something so he wanted to check everything out more thoroughly. There have been all sorts of incidents that start similar to this one where the cop ends up finding a cache of weapons, or drugs, and I've even seen one where the cop ended up finding someone in the trunk. When you get pulled over, if you act weird, you are fairly likely to have the cop search your person and your vehicle for just that reason. Hell Timothy McVeigh got arrested after the OKC bombing in what was going to be just a normal traffic stop.

 

Exactly. And the legality of his command to order her out of the vehicle should be a non-sequitur to his termination as a LEO.

It's legal for me to show up late to work 2 hours late every day, however I still can be terminated from my job. An LEO's performance of his duties should not be determined by whether an act was legal or not. That is a pretty low f'n bar.

 

Common sense, use it. So the officer's judgment on whether she was suspicious or not WAS SOLEY DEPENDENT ON HER PUTTING OUT A CIGARETTE? What would have occurred if she did put out the cigarette? From the video, it's pretty damn clear that the officer ordered her out of the vehicle in response to her not putting out the cigarette.

So in your hypothetical world, the officer would be performing his duties quite poorly if he was genuinely suspicious of her but didn't search her vehicle because she hypothetically complied to putting out the cigarette. If that is what would have lessened his suspicion of her, then he is a **** cop.

If an officer was genuinely suspicious of someone, putting out a cigarette would not be sufficient grounds to lessen that suspicion. I'm just employing basic common sense here.

 

I couldnt help but think about this story today...Just about 30 minutes ago, as I am pulling out of my neighborhood...I couldnt help but notice a Sugarland Police SUV pulling up to the stop sign opposite my home street. I make a right to exit my neighborhood and get onto the main street. Within seconds, I notice the cop also making a right, and quickly accelerating behind me. Lights go off, and I make the nearest left and pull over to a median turn lane. Out comes out a young towering Hispanic officer, and asks me for my drivers license and registration. And then he promptly tells me that he pulled me over for "failing to indicate a right turn out of a neighborhood..." See I know my streets, and also knew that our neighborhood exit street has a "right-only" painted on the street. He surely didnt. However, I just remained quiet and did exactly what he wanted me to do. He then proceeds to the rear of the vehicle and asks if the right turn lights are working, since he noticed that I used the left turn light to pull over to the median. I did as I was told. Within 30 seconds of going into his car, he returns and said..."I am free to go, and just make sure to use the indicator at all times." I said thanks and went on my way. This is how most encounters should conclude.

That being said, things like this can go wrong very quickly and very fast... If your having a bad day, OR if the LEO is having one...or if he is trying to meet the end of the month quota for citations...etc. Frustration/anger/resentment can lead to a much more hostile and tense encounter. Pretty sad that the lady was tasered, but if maybe if she wasnt flippant/or in a bad mood/ or if the COP wasnt a tool...This story wouldnt have been national news. Cops everywhere/ police departments need to exercise better judgement and restraint on "law enforcement." Did the guy need to pull me over? Quite frankly, I thought it was a total d.ck thing to do. If he gave me a citation, I mightve been more pissed...But since he pulled me over, I protected myself by just taking instruction and doing as told. Anyways...fun little story to illustrate how Sarah Bland's encounter shouldve gone...

 

So basically you put the onus on the one not professionally trained in deescalation to be the bigger adult, not the one who is professionally trained in deescalation?

 

So what do guys think about the mug shot photo and the conspiracy theory?