Waller County: 'Illegal' Lane Change leads to Death

Again, her odd behavior was enough reason to get her out of the car and investigate further as to why she was being so hostile for seemingly no reason. That's sort of what cops do....and are supposed to do. When people are acting strangely for seemingly no reason, they investigate it.

 

No.

He had the right to ask her to get out of the vehicle and some cops do it as soon as they approach a vehicle. It just depends. The courts have consistently ruled that an officer command to get out of the vehicle is legal.

She didn't engage her turn signal twice and possibly blew a stop sign. I have been pulled over for not using a turn signal. I was polite and received a warning.

What is fishy?
You had a combative citizen and a combative officer, it escalated because both of them are idiots. The citizen ended up under arrest and the officer violated protocol and will probably lose his job, and he should. The standards for an officer should be high.

No winners.

 

I think it is very unlikely that the cop loses his job over a minor breach in protocol. The only thing he did wrong in the stop was that he should have told her why he was asking her to get out of the car. I could see a remark left in his file or whatever, and I could even see him quitting or getting transferred to another location in order to prevent a problem with really stupid locals, but I highly doubt the union would allow for any serious punishment for something so minor.

 

My understanding is that it was more than one breach of protocol.

We will see, there is going to be a lot of pressure on the police force to act strongly. Look at the situation outside of St. Louis and in Baltimore. The response was strong and swift.

There is a distrust of the police that has spread out from just being those in poverty and minorities, now you have more and more of middle America not trusting the police and that can be a huge problem for everyone.

 

The situation in Furguson and St. Louis got out of control because the foolish local government let it get that way. There's no chance that would happen here.

As to more than one breach of protocol, you could be right I'm no expert on police protocol, but the one is all I've heard anything about.

Distrust of police has always been funny to me because those who talk about not trusting police are usually the first to call them when they get in a bind.

 

Who else is there to call, Bobby? I think that distrust can coexist with necessary reliance because they are not mutually exclusive, but maybe I'm missing something.

 

Well right, the cops are who you call, and that's my point. In my experience, most who "distrust" the cops are those who habitually break the law....they essentially don't like cops because being someone who doesn't obey the law, they are a natural target of those who are tasked with upholding the law.

If you are a pothead who never manages to keep insurance on your car and can't seem to understand that you have to use your turn signal in your car....well you probably don't like police, but whose fault is that?

 

<iframe width="476" height="270" src="http://abc13.com/video/embed/?pid=875749" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

It's good that this woman came forward to give her account of the jail interactions, but would you guys do the same?

I don't think I'd want to appear on the news after spending weeks in jail even if it was for something as minor as unpaid traffic tickets.

I guess she could be looking to profit off of the national media attention. Also--if she'd rather sit in jail than pay traffic tickets, I assume the arrest isn't interfering with a career.

I'm interested to see how the conspiracy theorists spin this woman's account of her interactions. I don't agree with the way the case was handled but can't see where these staged booking photo conspiracies and the like come from.

 

I highly doubt there is some conspiracy in the county jail covering up a murder by framing a suicide. That is just jumping through too many logical leaps. However, i hope her committing suicide does not detract from the fact that the officer still should be fired and unfortunately individuals like bigtexxx and bobby will use her suicide as a disingenuous way to ignore the transgressions of the officer by stating that "see, she was mentally unstable enough to commit suicide thus the officer had reasonable suspicion to forcibly remove her from her vehicle".

 

Bland was clearly not most polite or gracious person when she was pulled over, BUT she also wasnt exactly crazy, belligerent or aggressive either.

Factual events (as far as I can discern)

The confrontation started when the officer asked her why she was irritated. He clearly didn't like her response and the fact that she was irritated.

The problem escalated when the officer asked her if she could put out the cigarette, which Bland responds by ASKING, "why does she have to do so, when she is smoking in her own car [paraphrase]." Which apparently leads him to respond by ordering her to step out of the car.

Interpretation of events

So because Bland was irritated in being pull over and (after being asked why she is irritated twice) expresses the reasons for her irritation, the officer is in turn upset. This is clearly seen in his response to her explanation/complaints "are you done" and his decision to ignore her comment about just giving her the ticket.

Instead the officer, ask her to put out her cigarette. When she responds with a question of why she needs to, the officer IMO loses his **** and demands her to get out of the car. Clearly merely asking why she needs to stop smoking caused the officer to escalate the situation as it was the last straw for his ego, authority and pride (IMO).

Prior to the events after not stepping out of the car, I do not believe Bland can be faulted for the escalation. Could she have been more intelligent, polite, ingratiating or silent, certainly. But she didnt behave terribly by A. being irritated B. explaining why she was upset AFTER twice being questioned about it and C. Asking why she had to stop smoking in her own car.

Bland obviously could have avoided the mess and probably by being smarter and quieter. But the situation only escalated because the officer lost his head.

 

The event between Bland and the officer is not the court of law. It is not the ideal spot to plead a case. It is best to comply with the law. He gave her numerous opportunities to get out of the car; she failed to take advantage and instead chose the hard way.

Unfortunately individuals like yourself and Rocket River are using her suicide to exploit some kind of Jade Helm-like fear and angst against the government. This was a non-story until her suicide. It is likely it would never have made the news without her suicide. I have not read anything that indicates that her family was pursuing social justice prior to her suicide.

 

I am disgusted by this whole situation. I have no idea why someone with a failure to signal was jailed for 3 days. I'm infuriated and as a white male, I am disgusted by my brethren.

To ignore the fact that we have anything less than a huge racial crisis on our hands is sad.

Authoritative figures continue to abuse their power in all aspects of life and I don't know that there is any real solution. Additionally, as long as ignorance prevails, we have a very scary situation on our hands.

I hope someday that people embrace the power of love and forgiveness and accept that we are all brothers and sisters in this game of life.

 

Everything that came out today closes the door on her death, it was clearly a suicide.

 

The it makes perfect sense is a Bobby sense, which I would rate below speculation.

 

She wasn't jailed for failure to signal, she was jailed for assault on a public servant.

 

This is another case of police officers being arrogant jackaasses on power trips. She had every right to be irritated by being pulled over for such a small infraction. It's the policeman's job to remain calm and de-escalate the situation; that's what he is trained to do. She didn't immediately bend over and follow orders, and she was assaulted and screamed at for that. Terrible.

 

There was a man found dead in his cell in Houston today, apparently he used his clothes to hang himself. He's not black so I doubt we hear much about it though.

http://abc13.com/news/hpd-inmate-found-dead-inside-jail-cell-in-downtown-houston/875574/

 

#Asianlivesmatter

#nojusticenopeace

 

*crickets