JUST IN: @TxDPS responds to inquiry regarding #SandraBland video edits. VIA @mySA #SandyBland #IfIDieInPoliceCustody pic.twitter.com/SOSg9GZpGB
— Mariah Medina (@Mariahmedinaaa) July 22, 2015
I've just finished watching the full dashcam video of Sandra Bland's encounter with Brian Encinia which led to her arrest and detention in jail, and ultimately, death.
I have many, many questions, but the most pressing one is this: Why does this video appear to be edited?
In the video, which is more than 52 minutes long, there are several spots where cars and people disappear and reappear. When it released the video, the department did not mention any editing. The audio ends more than a minute before the video images do.
One of the more conspicuous spots comes 25 minutes and 5 seconds into the video, when a man walks from a truck off screen and then reappears suddenly at the spot where he began walking. The image flutters for a moment before resuming.
There are no breaks in the audio during this time. People are heard talking through the video gaps.
In another spot, at 32:37, a white car appears on the right side of the screen and then disappears. A moment later, what appears to be the same car comes back into the frame and turns left. During this time, Encinia is talking about what occurred during the arrest. There are no breaks in his speech.
What look like the same cars keep appear in the same locations, following their same paths, beginning at 33:04.
Again, the audio continues uninterrupted.
The full 52-minute video is at the top.
Here is the text from his affidavit:
I had Bland exit the vehicle to further conduct a safe traffic investigation. Bland became combative and uncooperative. Numerous commands were given to Bland ordering her to exit the vehicie. Bland was removed from the ear but became more combative. Bland was placed in handcuffs for officer safety. Bland began swinging her elbows at me and then kicked my right leg in the shin. i had a pain in my right leg and suffered small cuts on my right hand. Force was used to subdue Bland to the ground to which Bland continued to fight back. Bland was placed under arrest for Assault on Public Servant (TXPC
22.91 (B)) The vehicie was inventoried and reieased to Crown Towing. Bland was transported and booked into the Walter County Jail for Assault on Public Servant (TXPC 22.01)
There are obvious lies from him to his sergeant on that video. The entire sequence of him trying to drag her out of the car was misdescribed. His claim that she wouldn't look at him, which is what prompted him to make her get out of the car. His claim that he tried to de-escalate the situation -- utter bull. His attempt to justify not telling her she was under arrest by saying that she was under arrest from the moment of the stop, which may be technically true, but is hardly the same thing as informing a driver they are under arrest.
His fit of pique when she wouldn't extinguish her cigarette while smoking in her own car. When was it that Texas passed a law saying people can't smoke in their own vehicles while signing off on a traffic violation?
And of course, his threat to "light her up."
Not to mention his response to Bland's warning that she had epilepsy. "Good," he exclaimed.
Why was Sandra Bland detained for three days in that jail on trumped-up traffic charges?
Who took her phone? Where is it now?
This whole thing just is not right, top to bottom. Will we actually get to the bottom of it, or will we get another bunch of crap about how the officer behaved properly and she was some kind of "monster?"
These police departments need some serious housecleaning. STAT.
