Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (left) and Texas state senator Royce West.
Via abc13.com
Texas officials on Tuesday released dash cam video of the traffic stop that led to Sandra Bland's arrest, and reiterated their promise to carry out a thorough and transparent investigation into her subsequent death inside her jail cell three days later.
The nearly hour-long video shows Bland being pulled over for failing to signal a lane change, and what appears to be a curt, short exchange between the two quickly turn into a violent encounter that ended with Bland in jail.
When the trooper returns to the car - with what he later described as a warning - tensions quickly escalate when the trooper asks Bland to put out a cigarette.
"You mind putting out your cigarette, please?" the trooper asks. "Do you mind?"
"I'm in my car, why do I have to put out my cigarette?" Bland responds.
"Well, you can step out now."
Bland repeatedly refuses to step out of the car despite the trooper's orders, and both begin to yell as the trooper opens the door and the two begin to scuffle inside the vehicle.
In the video, the trooper can be heard repeatedly ordering Bland to get out of the car, as she continues to refuse.
At one point, the trooper yells, "Get out of the car! I will light you up!"
This is the video:
The two continue to struggle inside the car, and Bland asks why she is being apprehended. When she walks out of the car, the two continue to yell as the trooper tries to get Bland in handcuffs.
"You're doing this all for a failure to signal. Yeah, let's take this to court."
The trooper commands Bland to put her cell phone down, and as the two continue to argue, they come out of view of the dash cam.
"This right here says, 'Warning!'" the trooper yells. "You started creating a problem."
Cell phone video captured by a bystander, later captures Bland on the ground and the trooper holding her down.
At a news conference Tuesday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said the investigation into Bland's jail cell death three days after her arrest will look into two parts — her July 10 arrest, and her time spent inside the Waller County jail.
Officials have said Bland became confrontational with the trooper, including failing to follow commands. But the Texas Department of Public Safety said procedures were violated during the traffic stop, and that the trooper has been removed from street patrol while the investigation carried out.
"There's a tragedy that happened here, regardless of who's at fault," Patrick said. "A young lady lost her life. Everybody's life matters."
Texas State Sen. Royce West, addressing the recent high-profile deaths of African Americans at the hands of law enforcement agencies across the country, said officials were aware of the public concerns, and that elected officials would work to ensure a complete and transparent investigation.
"We know what's going on in America," West said. "We want the facts to come out."
On Monday, the Waller County district attorney's office released footage from inside the jail where Bland was being held the day she was found dead in her cell.
In an affidavit for arrest, state Trooper Brian T. Encinia wrote that Bland was "combative and uncooperative" during the July 10 traffic stop, and that the behavior continued after she was taken out of the car and placed in handcuffs.
After she was cuffed, according to Encinia, Bland "began swinging her elbows at me and then kicked my right leg in the shin," prompting him to use force.
Three days later, Bland was found dead in her Waller County jail cell.
Just before the news conference on Tuesday, Waller County Judge Trey Duhon and District Attorney Elton Mathis met with Sandra Bland's sister, mother, and their attorney.
According to a statement released by Duhon, Mathis reassured family members during the hour-long meeting that Bland's death appears to be a suicide, but that the investigation would be handled "no differently than a murder investigation, which no stone is left unturned."
Waller County sheriff's officials have said they believe Bland committed suicide by hanging using a trash bag in her cell — a finding that friends and family members have strongly rebuffed.
The operators of the jail have since been cited for not proving that jailers had been trained on interacting with inmates with mental disabilities or who may be suicidal, the Associated Press reported.
The citation, according to AP, showed jailers fell short of requirements to check on inmates every hour.
Sheriff officials have said they checked on Bland once via intercom, but that they don't believe those "deficiencies" played any part in her death.
LINK: Sandra Bland's Jail Cell Death To Be Investigated As Murder
LINK: Family Of Sandra Bland Seeks Independent Autopsy Following Jail Death
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