It's dangerous to be black in Texas

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not for the actions that followed the traffic stop.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBh3wzXd3vg
immediately before pulling sandra over, the cop in question stops someone for speeding who has no proof of insurance handy and lets them go. while getting arrested for failing to signal is technically legal, it's rarely done as the NYT article notes.

If Bland had acted rationally, there is no indication whatsoever that she would have been arrested. To the contrary, the officer had reportedly written out a warning. I assume that he also issued a warning during the previous stop.

He didn't handle the stop well -- definitely needed more training -- but she did everything wrong including failing to follow the order to get out of the car.

She might have been arrested anyway. Note that the previous driver had not had to get out of the car. Also, he said something about her having her father e-mail a copy of her insurance to her.

Note that in Texas, you are required to carry your insurance with you even though they can look it up from their car. I received a warning ticket in Texas a couple of years ago for not having proof of insurance even though the officer who stopped me confirmed that I did have insurance.

Also, I would be very surprised if the driver of the car in the previous stop was anything but black. Note that the car pulled into what appears to be a parking lot at Prairie View A&M. Furthermore, the driver was not living at home or there would have been no need for the driver's father to e-mail her proof of insurance. If the driver was indeed a student at Prairie View A&M, it is probable that the driver was black. So it isn't like Bland was treated differently from the previous driver on account of her race.

Bland received the treatment that she got because she acted stupidly.

As for whether it's rare for someone to be arrested as the result of a failure to signal traffic stop, I would bet that isn't the case at all. In fact, police looking for drunk drivers, especially when the bars let out, do look for such minor violations as a reason to pull people over with the intention of trying to determine whether they are drinking and driving during the stop. I would suspect that most people don't signal lane changes when drunk and so it would be a good thing to look for. And you can bet that if the driver is drunk, the police aren't going to let them go since they were only pulled over for failing to signal a lane change. So I suspect that being arrested during a traffic stop for failing to signal a lane change is not all that unusual.

IMO, it's dangerous for non-white people anywhere in the US now. White people in police forces are so paranoid now over the presence of non-white people who they're supposed to be protecting that such members of police forces can't seem to tell the difference between "serve & protect" and "overstepping authority".

this officer is Hispanic though

the cop turned around after the previous stop, proceeded to exceed the speed limit(he passes a 20mph sign while going faster than that) and then come up behind sandra in what looks like a chevy tahoe or similar sized SUV (they're about 7 feet+ at the roofline) and then sandra attempts to get out of the way. 3 days later, she's dead. are you really going to sit there and victim blame? because that's pretty disgusting.

Last edited by Fugu on 24 Jul 2015, 4:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institutional_racism

TDPS troopers are by-far the last group of Texas police I'd want to be stopped by, I have friends that are police in a nearby town and they are no fans of how the state troopers go about their day-to-day business - they're the types that would ticket or arrest their own parents for the slightest infraction. I have no idea why anyone, especially an adult black American would purposely give one of these guys reason to provoke them, best just to say "Yes sir/no sir" and be on your way. That being said, I do not believe a murder took place, this woman unfortunately took her own life for whatever reason she may have had, and that is beyond sad.

Are you suggesting that the police should not be able to exceed the speed limits a bit to catch up with someone they observed commit a traffic infraction?

She had just run a stop sign. That's a traffic infraction in itself. I don't know why he didn't write a ticket for that as well. In any event, that is plenty of reason to pull her over.

I'd rather be stopped by Texas DPS troopers than the police of most small town police departments.

Every time I've been stopped by the DPS, they were polite whether they gave me a ticket that I had to pay or a warning ticket. I certainly can't say that about city cops regardless of whether they are small town or big city.

But then, I don't try to antagonize them.

One time I tried to turn my car around on a residential street in Tiny Town. One of my wheels got stuck in a culvert because so many small towns don't believe in curbs. I was anxious and borderline panicking. trying to figure out how I could get my wheel back on the road and on my way. It was on the front driver's side. An incredibly kind officer appeared a short time after I got stuck and helped me out without me calling or anything. He just drove by out of the blue. He got my wheel out of that ditch. Not one cop in this city would have helped me. In Tiny Town, one did and he was so nice about it, too. It was refreshing not dealing with these jaded, suspicious, burnt out city cops!

I feel I have to pay it forward and give props to small town officers!

And yet, she had filled out a questionnaire in which she said she was depressed. Otherwise, no one seemed to have given her any kind of evaluation despite this.

If I understand the procedures correctly, then the forms were actually filled out by jail personnel based on their interview of her.

Six pages with no one talking about how the dash cam video regularly repeats numerous frames.
The police department says there was technical issues with it's recording and uploading of the video.
Others who have experience in the matter claim the video was edited with how the frames are ordered and jump about.
http://www.khou.com/story/news/local/20 ... /30511805/

Everyone knows if you aren't straight white looking person without disabilities to stay out of the Deep South including Texas.

Texas is going to Texas until the public pressure forces change or the federal government steps in to iron them out.

Even so, they were still responsible for their well being. Who cares if she filled out the information herself, o\r if questions were asked of her?

Didn't they do it again and release a video without the technical issues?

As far as editing it, that makes no sense at all. If they wanted to edit it and make it seem reasonable, they could have done a hell of a lot better job. I see no reason to believe that they edited it at all.

Just correcting an invalid assumption.