photo credit: a katz // Shutterstock
Nearly 4 years after the death of Sandra Bland, a new video has been released of her point of view as she was arrested. This new video has people calling for a new investigation.
Bland, a 38-year-old african american woman, died in police custody in Texas in July 2015. She died 3 days after her arrest. Her death being ruled a suicide after she was found hanging in her jail cell.
The 39-second clip shows the altercation between Blad and former state trooper Brian Encinia during the traffic stop. Other than the police dashboard video that was released shortly after Bland’s death, this is the first video to show up.
State Trooper Encinia was fired after the incident received national attention. He was initially indicted for perjury after he claimed he feared for his safety after stopping Bland’s vehicle. However, the charges against him were dropped after Encinia agreed to never work in law enforcement again. The Bland family settled a $1.9 million lawsuit against authorities.
It shows Encinia leaning into Bland’s vehicle and taking out his Taser shortly after he had pulled her over for allegedly failing to indicate a change of lanes. As Encinia unholsters his Taser, its lights flash on, and he points it at Bland and he shouts: “Get out of the car! I will light you up. Get out!”
Bland leaves her car and continues to record the trooper as he orders her on to the sidewalk. The Taser remains pointed at her and he shouts again, telling her to get off her phone. Bland replies: “I’m not on the phone. I have a right to record. This is my property.”
The Bland family lawyer, Cannon Lambert, says he has never seen the video but the Texas department of public safety says the video was released as part of the legal discovery process when the case was in court. “The video makes it abundantly clear there was nothing [Sandra] was doing in that car that put him at risk at all,” Lambert said.
Lawyers for Encinia claimed the new footage revealed nothing significant.
Source: The Guardian