By Ariele Vaccaro
Texas trooper Brian Encinia holds up a Taser as Sandra Bland steps out of her car in a video that some have questioned as having been edited
Social media has been buzzing since the release of a dashcam video that depicts a Texas trooper threatening to “light… up” Sandra Bland from outside her car.
Three days after the altercation with the trooper, Bland was arrested and found dead in a county jail cell.
In the video, trooper Brian Encinia pulls over Bland for not signaling a turn. Upon approaching her vehicle, he politely asks Bland to put out her cigarette. She asks why she would need to, and Encinia’s courtesy quickly fades.
“Well, you can step out now,” says Encinia.
Bland refuses, asking why a failure to signal would require the 28-year-old to step from her car.
According to a 1997 Supreme Court ruling, Encinia does, in fact, have legal right to ask Bland to step out of her car during a routine arrest such as this one. But the events leading up to his request might make one wonder, why?
The audibly livid trooper then threatens to “yank” Bland from her car. He opens her door and reaches in, attempting to pull her out. Then, he reaches for his Taser.
“I will light you up!” shouts Encinia. Bland steps out of her vehicle.
The next several minutes of the video are hard to watch – rather, listen to. Bland is put in cuffs, but outside of the camera’s view. A struggle is heard, and Encinia says that Bland has kicked him. From what one can gather from their conversation, Encinia forces Bland to the ground.
“You just slammed my head into the ground,” she says. “Do you not even care about that?”
Her voice becomes muffled, as if her mouth is covered. By now, another officer has arrived.
Bland says as officers take her to the police vehicle, all this over a failure to signal violation. Encinia says, you’re going to jail because you resisted arrest.
Questions have surfaced regarding the integrity of the video.
A Texas Department of Public Safety spokesperson told Reuters in a July 22 report that the video was not edited.
According to a Tuesday report by CNN, the FBI and Texas Rangers are currently investigating Bland’s death.
In the same CNN report, Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis says isn’t quick to call Bland’s death a suicide.
He assures that the situation is being “treated like a murder investigation.”
According to Mathis, it’s too soon to know whether Bland took her own life or someone else did.
Others wonder about the method of death – hanging, using a plastic garbage bag – and why the bag was in the cell in the first place.