Another young black person dies in police custody in the US

[Floundering]

Sandra Bland, a university graduate who had just moved back to South Carolina to work in her old University.

She forgot to signal when changing lanes whilst driving her car & was pulled over. The police officer went OTT and pulled her out of the car & (it seems from heavily edited footage from the police dashcam) had to restrain her.

She was then arrested and kept in jail for a minor traffic violation, and found dead in her cell allegedly having hanged herself.

This picture is her mugshot but may have been doctored after her death

Because the powers that be cover it up and are just as corrupt as the officers themselves. They are getting away with it.

I live within sight of the US border, and travel to the US infrequently. Why infrequently? Because of the reputation of US police officers of being officious and entirely unreasonable.

I personally have never had any problem, but... I can avoid "bad areas", I can avoid dangerous situations, but I can't avoid the police.

I don't know what the solution is... it will take a generation for the US polices forces to change their image, assuming they even want to.

Well, it's nice to know in the absence of any facts that you've already decided what happened.

Seriously, people, different police departments have different procedures regarding when they take mug shots. It's not cut and dried. Let them investigate the situation and see what happens. Then when the actual facts are known, you can decide what you believe. But this morbid speculation and tarring all police as corrupt baddies is just ridiculous.

This has really really got to me. That poor woman was going about her business, and she is now dead for not using her indicator.

Yes me too. She was back in the area purely because she had just got a new job, working in her old University, and was so excited, her life ahead of her.

I too wonder if the force with which she was restrained, & her head banged on the ground by the arresting officer, led to a cranial bleed of some sort, that didn't present for a few days ( they can show up to 14 days post trauma) and when they found her dead they panicked & tried to make it look like suicide.

This is so sad. I really hope her family get the answers they need. One minute this woman is on her way to a few interviews as I understand it and three days later shes dead ?!

Not to derail, but theres also another video floating about of a homeless man, one man, being arrested and cuffed by I think 6/7 policemen. Out of nowhere he gets shot. The guy was handcuffed and facedown and was shot like 6 times in the back. Its terrifying and absolutely enraging whats going on.

Seaside, have you watched the video of her at the roadside? The "facts" of that part are right there.

What happened after, that can only be speculated on, but let me repeat this, she shouldn't have been in jail in the first place so regardless of how she died, the police are responsible for her death.

Seaside we are speculating yes, but becasue we are shocked and there are MASSIVE inconsistencies in what appears to have happened. The story has changed somewhat over time too, which smacks of a cover up.

I have nowhere tarred police as corrupt baddies, but in the US there appears to be a high proportion of bigoted, violent ones. I know for a fact that there are a great many US police officers who shake their heads at their colleagues behaviours, and hate to be associated with them.

However the fact remains that a young lady with everything to live for was arrested on the flimsiest of charges, and detained for THREE DAYS before dying, from god knows what.

I think we can be forgiven for not actually having much faith in the "actual facts" as they are being presented so far, with the evidence as released by the authorities.

I'd prefer to wait until all the facts are available. Speculation helps nobody.

Thank god I'm not alone, SeasideSunshine ...

Let them investigate the situation and see what happens

This is the problem. There's a serious issue with corruption at all levels, so forgive me if I don't trust the system.

And of course not all police are 'baddies'. The majority are excellent at their jobs and protect us as best they can.

There is also a huge rush for the news media to print things, often inaccuracies (some of which has been the subject of a number of threads on MN in the past). Again, the fact remains that you don't know the facts. Speculation in this instance is gruesome. Is the situation concerning, yes. Am I curious about the facts behind it, yes. But I have seen first hand how the media and people in general can twist and turn situations beyond recognition, especially those with an axe to grind.

I'll wait for the facts to surface.

The issue is that the criminal justice system in the US is institutionally racist. At the street level, at the court level, at the level of prisons.

Again, the fact remains that you don't know the facts.

That video is about as close to the facts as we are ever going to get.

Oh, FFS. Here we go. Institutionally racist, and so on. Well then, you've clearly got it all figured out. The entire police force got together and decided to tamper with evidence and support a racist cop, at the jeopardy of their livelihood and their freedom.

Why bother having investigators and courts? You've obviously sorted it. Why waste tax payers money on looking for the facts?

Unbelievable. I think I'll go browse a thread that's NOT behaving like a lynch mob.

The entire police force got together and decided to tamper with evidence and support a racist cop, at the jeopardy of their livelihood and their freedom

You mean like what happened in a US prison when an officer gouged an inmates eyes out, was supported by fellow officers and was only convicted thanks to the bravery of another officer? (who was subject to much abuse for coming forward)

Or the recent shooting in which a man was left dead, and the police tampered with evidence?

Oh dear. Do you know what institutionally racist means? I suspect not.

Hint: it doesn't mean an active conspiracy.

Whilst you wait for those facts to surface, if they ever do, the rest of us would like to discuss this if that's okay with you. We aren't conspiracy theorists, we're discussing what we see and how things just aren't adding up.

If people don't question things like this it makes it easier to be brushed under the carpet and that woman deserves more. She deserves people questioning, looking deeper, and trying to find answers because she bloody well can't now can she.

Well the cop was clearly lying about what happened at the arrest.

She had epilepsy and had had her head smacked into something.

It wouldn't surprise me at all if she hadn't died as a result of that and the suicide was staged.

YY Grays. Well said.

Yy gray. Wouldn't be the first time US police murdered a black person and covered it up...

Just saw how many edits there were to the dash cam, how and why are they allowed to edit them?!

Worst thing was, she didn't even fail to indicate! If you read the conversation she says 'you were tailing me so I pulled over to let you go pass' he was intimidating her.

Seaside Why can't concerned folks debate what appears to/ might have happened?

The state of the police corruption in (some parts of) the US is unforgivable in this day & age and every US citizen should decry it.

I repeat- whatever the FACTS of this case, this young woman was treated abominably as evidenced by the officers own dash cam (possibly heavily edited, sure looks that way) and by that of an onlooker.

She then died in custody .

It could have been my daughter or yours.

As a mum you bet I am going to bloody talk about it.

Well said Floundering.

Even his tone was angry to start with. He wanted to take his racial anger out on someone and did just that. Sadly it's led to another death. The mugshot is really sad it just doesn't look right

The post by sliceofsoup at 13:56 is spot on.

I'm not holding out much hope for a proper investigation.