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

This is so scary

Autopsy released says death by suicide; hanging.

He you tube video above does not have the editing the media is going on about? The one I saw the tow truck guy got out twice and it was obvious. Or did I not watch long enoug? But the difference in the stops is interesting.

Whole debacle is horrendous. I agree I don't think she was deliberately murdered but I think her assault when arrested may have set up a series of events leading to her death & then a huge cover up. Which would fit in with the woman I the neighbouring cell not hearing anything other than her crying ( which lets face it I think I would have been by day 3!)

The bastards are now trying to point to past episodes of self harm, as proof she was unstable enough to commit suicide.

What I would like to know is if anyone visited her during the 3 days? Did she call a lawyer? She seemed adamant about having one during the arrest. It all stinks to be honest and I hope they're shitting themselves. I hope the truth comes out.

I don't believe her death has been faked and a post mortem will easily identify the signs of death by hanging.

One other thing to bear in mind that this was in a prison several days after arrest, not the police station where she would have initially been taken.

The staff at the prison would be aware of her charges but in all likelihood, not of the exact circumstances. They were completely unconnected to her arrest, so why concoct a scenario that can easily be proved false?

Sometimes, the truth is stranger than fiction.

I don't understand why she was still in jail although granted, I haven't read enough about it yet. I know the American system is tough but even so, these were minor charges!!

I don't think they killed her directly but I do think the whole chain of events has been stage managed to cover up totally unacceptable police procedure, which has led to another death in custody of a young black person.

As I've said before I know our police are not angels but procedures are in place and if this happened here I like to think all bloody hell would let loose & questions asked.

Talking to a friend who is a police officer here and has done exchanges to US, he says the recruitment procedures and basic training vary wildly from force to force, so there is no national standard and certainly very little public relations / dispute /conflict resolution training.

It was me that said it doesn't matter what race you are, if you get pulled over by a US state trooper they will not be sweet and nice. But actually this officer was a lot more polite than the one that pulled me over. Had I kicked off like she did then I don't doubt I would have been arrested as well. I know an old white lady that was pulled over for not using her indicator, the officer reached into the car and said "You clearly don't think you need this" and snapped it off.

The actual problem here is that she was in jail for three days for something so minor and insignificant so there has to be more to the story than this and something went very very wrong. It's wrong that she died, it's wrong that he got heavy handed with her, it's wrong that she was kept in so long. I agree, but I do think that people are all over the faked images and cover up for the sensationalism.

As someone mentioned earlier he did turn in the road and follow her. If you watch again you'll notice that she didn't use her indicator then either, was he following her because she was a lone black female or was he following her because she commited a traffic offence? I'm guessing it's most probably the latter!

Aside of the fact she shouldn't have been pulled over in the first place, they seriously need training in conflict resolution for one. The whole demeanour is one that would instantly get anyones back up. The body language, tone of voice... not just what he said but how he said it. I think in the grand scheme of things she stayed bloody calm compared to how I'd be!

But of course I'm not black so I might not have been pulled over in the first place.

Some interesting stuff here about alleged police bias in encounters with blacks, perceived injustice, etc ... though it won't suit the conspiracy theorists

slatestarcodex.com/2014/11/25/race-and-justice-much-more-than-you-wanted-to-know/

MrsDV that would be a good way of ticking the box of ex- military unemployment eh?

Regardless of the little matter of suitability for the job.

tomato She may well have been a bit arsey but she was annoyed and possibly extremely nervous and he didn't exactly handle it well did he?

A firm," no need for that ma'am, here's your ticket" & off they both go. Petty & annoying but no harm done.

But no he completely flipped, threatened her with a taser when she initially refused to get out of the car, and then when she did restrained her on the ground.

For non use of an indicator???!

"Some interesting stuff here about alleged police bias in encounters with blacks"

'blacks'?????

^ that term is accepted in different countries to the UK

I think in the grand scheme of things she stayed bloody calm compared to how I'd be! - totally agree.

No MrsDeVere, sorry to disappoint you, but I certainly don't think racism is a conspiracy theory

Some of the wilder suggestion on here would seem to qualify for that title, though

This is a UK site, graysanatomy.

Used by people of all nationalities.

You seem to be suggesting that if black people behaved themselves they wouldn't keep getting killed by the police? REALLY? OK I think you have completely misunderstood what I said then.

I agree Floundering they both completely over reacted.

She failed to use her indicator. The non use of an idicator is pretty insignificant, as long as it doesn't end up in an accident and the loss of someone's life of course. She shouldn't have been pulled over, WHAT? She absolutely should have been pulled over and ticketed. It's what escalated AFTER that is the problem. If you are pulled over for a driving offence you have to be either pretty self-centered or high on something if you think you have the right to complain about it. Doesn't mean what happened to her was correct, but she was pulled over for a completely justified reason, she was not pulled over because she was black .

MrsDeVere there is a lot of inequality in the US and in Texas in particular one in three black men end up in jail. Black men die more often in police custody or in arrests due to a whole patchwork of social and historical reasons, which relate to the whole of US society and are not just caused by the police being racist. It is a great scapegoat though, to focus on police racism, in fact it's a good way to completely cloud the bigger issues and let them continue un-addressed.

I think there are some people who have an unquestioning trust in authority and others who imagine conspiracies around things like vaccines etc even when all the evidence doesn't point to it.

Personally I was always in the trust authority camp. However I can now see through experience that people will say anything to protect their jobs and managers have a vested interest in covering it up. I once complained about a serious safety issue in my son's swimming lesson. I was amazed by how those involved just lied about it and my concerns were dismissed by the management. I know what happened in that case because I saw it myself.

Given all the problems in the US with killings by police and evidence being faked. I am not surprised that people are not convinced by the autopsy findings in this case. I think there have been so many lies caught on video now that the trust is gone and reforms are urgently needed.

I mean if a political prisoner kills themselves in a Russian jail no one actually believes they did just because the authorities say so do they?

I think there have now been so many suspect deaths of black people in the US at the hands of the police that people are right to be skeptical about the information being provided.