Another Rogue Cop Goes Overboard

Now that the dash-cam video has been released, taken down, and re-released again, the nation can see what started this terrible tragedy. Just as suspected, another out of control cop escalated a situation that ended up way worse than it had to be.

Sandra Bland drove along the road minding her own business. A cop car quickly closed in on her out of nowhere. When Bland changed lanes in an effort to get out of the policeman’s way, the cop chose to pull her over for changing lanes without signalling.

This tactic is used often by policemen. Out of the blue, they roll up on you at top speed as if something is on fire. If you react to them abruptly, that gives them reason to question you, search you, or in this case pull you over. As a result, Bland was arrested for resisting arrest (though logic says you have to be getting arrested for something first before you can resist it). She was found dead in police custody days later in what medical examiners ruled a suicide.

Just like the cop at the McKinney Texas swimming pool, this Waller County Texas policeman took it upon himself to be the officer, the judge, the jury, and quite possibly the executioner because someone hurt his feelings.

Their confrontation went completely south when the state trooper asked her about being upset. He then asked her to put out her cigarette. These ploys were clearly geared to intentionally instigate an already bad situation. According to Jim Harrington, the director of the Texas Civil Rights Project, the officer had no reason to ask either question.

“No, she doesn’t have to put out her cigarette. And you wonder why the officer is even bothering with that. This is part of his escalation of the whole event that unfolded, unfortunately.”

The policeman appears to have had a plan as he purposely guided Bland out of the view of the dash-cam. Did he already know he would slam her head to the ground in what could have been a fatal blow? He certainly didn’t care about anything Bland complained about, and he appeared to get a thrill out of the entire event.

There was no effort to deescalate the situation by either party. However, Sandra Bland should not have been pulled over in the first place. The officer created the problem, then went out of his way to push every button he could until someone died. The sad part about it is that there are many citizens and officers of the law that believe what the cop did in this situation is okay.

And they wonder why some people don’t trust the police.