Young woman changes lane without signal found dead in jail

[philip964]

http://abc7chicago.com/news/road-trip-f ... th/853139/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From Waller County in Texas.

The woman lives in Chicago, on her way to a job interview in Texas.

The stop for the lane change turned into a
difficult arrest which led to her being jailed, which led to her death from asphyxiation in jail.

The Texas Rangers are investigating.

[jmra]

A lot of people get pulled over for minor traffic violations without going to jail. Sounds like this woman had some very emotional things going on in her life that led to her being combative with police and led to her taking her own life.

[philip964]

This made national news this morning.

Apparently an on line search of her Facebook account showed a video she did of herself, where she talks about her depression. Her relatives don't mention this in the interviews.

Amateur video exists of the stop, apparently everyone videos everything now, which shows her arrest. In the video it shows the officers knee on her neck. Some on line have speculated that she may have suffocated during her sleep from injuries during the arrest and the suicide was a cover up.

A lawyer friend once said traffic tickets come in two flavors: a traffic ticket and a traffic ticket along with resisting arrest. You always want the first, never the second. Here it was assaulting a police officer. I assume that is worse than resisting arrest.

I've found that if you just consider a traffic ticket just another tax you pay, it makes it no big deal, because I pay lots of taxes all the time.

[oohrah]

I predict this will not end well for the LEOs.

[Jim Beaux]

I predict this will not end well for the LEOs.

Evidence appears to favor LE.

Bland had posted a video to her Facebook page on March 1 in which she said that she was suffering from "a little bit of depression as well as PTSD," or post-traumatic stress disorder. She did not explain the cause of the PTSD.

In a video posted three days later, she elaborated.

"I want you guys to know it's a daily struggle. It's a daily test," she said. "Depression is nothing but the devil. It's a way of mind and it's a way of thinking." She recommended prayer to cut through the fog.

Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis said an autopsy found Bland died by asphyxiation and that she used a plastic bag to hang herself from a partition in her cell. He also said that although jail video didn't show what went on in Bland's cell, it showed no one went in or out of it from the time she was placed there until a jailer found her unconscious.

Sheriff Glenn Smith said jailers had used an intercom to check on Bland less than an hour before she was found dead.

http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/ ... 389983.php

[C-dub]

If her trachea was damaged or there was other nerve damage due to the officer's knee they may have some big problems on their hands.

[Jumping Frog]

It is also Obama's fault.

He has so politicized numerous incidents over the years turning everything into a black victimization mindset that now this young gal is a self-described "civil rights activist", angry, and arrested for assaulting a police officer. Like everyone else, I do not know the circumstances of her death, but I do know that different behavior on her part may very well have resulted in a simple traffic ticket and not getting hauled off to jail. And she'd still be alive.

Bland, who graduated from Prairie View A&M but recently lived in Chicago, filled her Facebook page with videos in which she made observations about race in America under the title "Sandy Speaks."

"Being a black person in America is very, very hard," she said in a recent post. "Show me in American history where all lives matter."

[cb1000rider]

It is also Obama's fault.

He has so politicized numerous incidents over the years turning everything into a black victimization mindset that now this young gal is a self-described "civil rights activist", angry, and arrested for assaulting a police officer. Like everyone else, I do not know the circumstances of her death, but I do know that different behavior on her part may very well have resulted in a simple traffic ticket and not getting hauled off to jail. And she'd still be alive.

I can't tell if that's a joke or not about Obama.
If you're saying that she shouldn't have "assaulted" a police officer and she'd still be alive, then I take issue with that. No one deserves to die for that offense.

Seems to me what is causing the media attention on this is a very very small group of police officers that are getting caught by technology (cameras) and the camera tells a very different story than the police report. Sorry, but we all wonder how long that's been going on.

Like you, I don't know what actually happened here, but I'm glad that there is a spotlight on some dark corners of law enforcement right now. We've got no room in society for people who are above the law. Especially when they are the law.

[Jim Beaux]

It is also Obama's fault.

He has so politicized numerous incidents over the years turning everything into a black victimization mindset that now this young gal is a self-described "civil rights activist", angry, and arrested for assaulting a police officer. Like everyone else, I do not know the circumstances of her death, but I do know that different behavior on her part may very well have resulted in a simple traffic ticket and not getting hauled off to jail. And she'd still be alive.

I can't tell if that's a joke or not about Obama.
If you're saying that she shouldn't have "assaulted" a police officer and she'd still be alive, then I take issue with that. No one deserves to die for that offense.

Seems to me what is causing the media attention on this is a very very small group of police officers that are getting caught by technology (cameras) and the camera tells a very different story than the police report. Sorry, but we all wonder how long that's been going on.

Like you, I don't know what actually happened here, but I'm glad that there is a spotlight on some dark corners of law enforcement right now. We've got no room in society for people who are above the law. Especially when they are the law.

You cant cant minimize the fact that obama fueled anti cop sentiment. His words nurtured many to assume that they can disrespect our laws & LEOs without penalty. He has a degree of fault in this incident.

No one inferred that this belligerent woman deserved to die for assaulting a LEO.

**SNIP**

If you're saying that she shouldn't have "assaulted" a police officer and she'd still be alive

Without equivocation, this gal would be alive today if she hadnt behaved as a bystander said she did. Preliminary evidence appears to show that: She resisted arrest, she fought a cop, she got herself arrested & she committed suicide... she earned the consequences of her choices.

Im not going to argue nuances with you. Have a nice weekend.

[Jumping Frog]

I can't tell if that's a joke or not about Obama.
If you're saying that she shouldn't have "assaulted" a police officer and she'd still be alive, then I take issue with that. No one deserves to die for that offense.

I don't think you are seeing the distinction I am making.

Let me make an analogy. One conversation I often have with my children is avoiding "The Iron Triangle of Trouble": Don't do stupid things with stupid people in stupid places. Sometimes the phrase is expressed as bad things with bad people in bad places. It is simply being prudent, and improving the probability of going through life without unpleasant consequences.

If I am walking around in the worst parts of Houston at 2:00 am and find myself being badly beaten and robbed, clearly I do not "deserve" to be beaten and robbed. However, if I had avoided walking those streets at that time of night and had chosen to be home in bed in my middle class suburb, it is also indisputable that particular predator who decided to beat and rob me would not have done so.

If my 19 year old daughter is dressed provocatively, goes out and gets drunk out of her mind, and gets raped, she does not "deserve" to get raped. However, she could have made different choices that did not make her as vulnerable to that risk.

In Sandra Bland's circumstance, her online postings made it clear she was a self-described activist who was angry, strident, vocal, and militant. She apparently had an altercation at roadside with a police officer that included assaulting the police officer and resulted in her being arrested and taken to jail. If (and that is a big IF because the evidence is totally unknown at this point) she was killed by the police while in custody, she clearly did not "deserve" to be killed. However, it is also indisputable that different behavior on her part during the traffic stop would likely have resulted in a simple traffic ticket and never being taken to jail and thus she would never have placed herself in jeopardy.

And that is where I get back to Obama. His race-baiting antics have inflamed the situation and made things worse, and certainly has not been the "post racial President" that he campaigned as in 2008. We have a lot of people driving around who are angry and militant like this young woman and the President has made the situation worse, not better. So no, I am not joking when I say I also blame Obama.

[Diesel42]

Well said Jumping Frog.

[rbwhatever1]

Double the well said. Sandra Bland is responsible for Sandra Bland. Thuggish militant "America and all the white people owe me, LEO's are bad" behavior is the Obama doctrine. Dividing the nation with race baiting even though a Black Person is President. How pathetic some humans are for falling for this State Sponsored garbage. The State loves Racism. It gives liberals something to rally behind to steal more money from the huddled masses...

[Abraham]

I'll chime in.

If you're stopped by LE, don't act like you're entitled to act belligerent even if you're absolutely convinced you're in the right and the LEO is in the wrong.

It won't go well for you.

Act like a rational adult, accept your ticket and dispute it in court - not in the street.

[ShootDontTalk]

I can't tell if that's a joke or not about Obama.
If you're saying that she shouldn't have "assaulted" a police officer and she'd still be alive, then I take issue with that. No one deserves to die for that offense.

Let's at least clear up one thing. People do not hang themselves because someone else forced them to. Suicide is very much a crime against oneself. Always has been, always will be. That woman is not dead because of a neck injury sustained during her arrest. She is not dead because she assaulted a police officer. She is dead because she hung herself. Playing with words won't change that fact. It appears, from what little evidence we have, that she hung herself.

Would you hang yourself because you thought you were wrongly arrested?

No one suggested anyone should die for assaulting a police officer. I trust you practice the same restraint.

A police officer has every right to not be assaulted, just like you do. The officers appear to have done considerably less than some civilians would have done in the same circumstances.

She was arrested for her behavior towards others. She appears to be dead because of her behavior toward herself.

Seems to me what is causing the media attention on this is a very very small group of police officers that are getting caught by technology (cameras) and the camera tells a very different story than the police report. Sorry, but we all wonder how long that's been going on.

Well you're going to have to enlighten me about what I missed in the video. How are other incidents linked to this case?

Let's let the investigation run its course. I have all the confidence in the world that the Texas Rangers will determine the truth.

[JSThane]

If she hung herself in police custody, the only liability the cops have is in that they did not deny her the tools to do so. There's a reason things like shoelaces, belts, and hooded-sweatshirt drawstrings are frequently confiscated before putting people in a holding cell. That being said... if one is intent on doing harm to self, it's nigh-impossible to confiscate -every- potential tool. A suicidal person can fashion a noose from their trousers, from pantyhose, from bras and shirts and socks. They can attempt to inhale solid objects like unchewed food, bottlecaps, and pieces of clothing. They can smash their head against walls and doors. They can climb onto whatever meager furniture there is in a cell and jump off head-first into the floor, or throw themselves backwards to hit their necks on hard and unyielding objects. Cell checks every 15 to 30 minutes can alert the officers to a problem, but even then, they cannot prevent that problem, only deal with the aftermath.

Ultimately, while one might be able to make a small case against the cops in this instance for failing to keep a suicide watch on every person in their custody, the cops themselves can't be held responsible for the self-inflicted acts that resulted in this woman's death. Whatever one may say about a knee on the neck at time of arrest, that certainly did not translate itself into a plastic bag around the neck, and so was NOT a cause of death in the slightest.

One other consideration: had she been searched thoroughly to find and remove any potential suicide implements before putting her in the cell, you can bet your britches there'd be a massive sexual-harassment suit forthcoming. Nasty Catch-22 there for the cops.