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 Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old black woman from the Chicago area, was
pulled over on July 10 in Prairie View, Texas, northwest of Houston,
for failing to signal a lane change.
The 52-minute video, released by the Texas Department of Public
Safety, shows the trooper, Brian Encinia, approaching the car and
asking if Bland is irritated. Bland replies that she is upset about
being stopped for such a minor issue.
After running a check of Bland's driving history, the trooper
returns and asks her to put out her cigarette, which she refuses to
do, saying she has the right to smoke in her own vehicle.
At that point, the video shows Encinia demanding she leave the
vehicle and then trying to pull her out. He then points a Taser and
shouts: "I will light you up."
Bland asks at least 10 times about why she is being arrested and for
what offense before Encinia replies she is resisting arrest.
 She is heard telling the trooper: "I can't wait until we go to
court."
Bland, who was taken into custody and later charged with assaulting
an officer, was found hanging in her jail cell with a plastic trash
bag around her neck three days later.
Her death was originally ruled a suicide. But her family, while
acknowledging that Bland previously posted a video blog saying she
was struggling with depression, has dismissed the idea she was
suicidal. Family members said she was excited about starting a new
job at her alma mater, Prairie View A&M University.
Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis said on Monday he would
investigate her death as a homicide. The state trooper, Encinia, has
been has been put on desk duty for violating protocol in the arrest,
officials have said.
Demonstrators have protested outside the jail where Bland died and
her case has been taken up by activists who say it is the latest
example of racial bias and excessive force by U.S. law enforcement.
The trooper involved in the incident is white.
Bland's family has called for an independent autopsy and involvement
by the U.S. Department of Justice in the probe of her death. A
memorial for Bland was held at Prairie View A&M on Tuesday night
attended by about 300 people.
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"I am angry because of the way she died," Bland's mother, Geneva
Reed-Veal, said at the memorial. "All I want to know is why."
LAWMAKER QUESTIONS ARREST
A Texas lawmaker, speaking at a news conference on Tuesday, said the
video suggested Bland should never have been arrested in the first
place.
Democratic state Senator Royce West said there would be no cover-up
in the investigation, which other officials at the news conference
said could take time.
Jailhouse video released earlier by the Waller County Sheriff's
Department shows a space of about 90 minutes between the last
physical check of Bland in her cell and her being discovered dead at
about 9 a.m. on July 13.
The jail was decertified last Thursday because of problems with
staff training and observing inmates, including following state
requirements for face-to-face checkups on inmates every hour, said
Brandon Wood, executive director of the Texas Commission on Jail
Standards.
Waller County Sheriff Glen Smith, who could not be reached on
Tuesday for comment, previously told Houston's KHOU TV that he did
not think either problem played a role in Bland's death.
(Additional reporting by Ben Klayman in Detroit, Jim Forsyth in San
Antonio, and Fiona Ortiz in Chicago; Editing by Peter Cooney)
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