Dashcam video shows traffic stop escalating into confrontation

Democratic State Senator Royce West told a news conference there would be no cover-up in the investigation of the death of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old Chicago-area woman, three days after she was arrested in Prairie View, Texas, northwest of Houston. After he hands her a ticket, the trooper remarks that Bland seemed irritated.

A Texas state trooper tried to pull black motorist Sandra Bland out of her auto, then drew his stun gun and threatened her after she refused to follow his orders during a traffic stop. Encinia reaches into the vehicle, while repeating the order and threatens to forcibly remove Bland from the vehicle, saying he will “yank her” and “drag her” out of the vehicle. He then pulls what appears to be a weapon and says, “I will light you up”. WATCH: Surveillance video from Waller County Jail the day Sandra Bland diedThe video shows the corridor outside Bland’s jail cell and jail personnel scrambling to save Bland on July 13. Bland loudly, and profanely, protests the arrest – and accuses the officer of slamming her head into the ground – but any physical confrontation is off camera. Texas Department of Public Safety director Steve McCraw is quoted in the Washington Post saying that Encinia violated the agency’s procedures during the stop.

They have called for the death to be looked into by the Justice Department and an independent autopsy has been ordered. The sheriff’s office in a statement Friday said jailers checked on Bland via intercom on one occasion rather than in person.

“She passed through asphyxiation, so that tells you that she could not breathe, and that can happen whether standing, kneeling down or sitting down”, Cantrell said.

Ava DuVernay, who directed the Oscar-nominated civil rights movement film Selma, suggested on Tuesday that the dashboard camera footage of Sandra Bland’s arrest earlier this month was altered. Officials have said evidence indicates that Bland’s death was a suicide, a hanging with a plastic bag.

Family members and friends insist Bland was looking forward to a new job at her former school and that she gave no indication she was in such an emotional state that she would kill herself. Some are now questioning the validity of the video released by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

New video out captures what lead up to the arrest of a woman found dead in a Texas jail cell.

The two continue arguing, with Bland shouting she “can’t wait until we go to court” and using salty language to insult the officer.

Mathis and Waller County Judge Trey Duhon met Tuesday with one of Bland’s sisters and her mother to update the family on the investigation. He said she was “removed from the auto”, and Bland became “more combative”. “I kinda lean toward assault versus resist, because, I mean, technically she was under arrest when the traffic stop was initiated”, he said.

The Harris County medical examiner ruled Bland’s death a suicide, but her family has been disputing that finding from the beginning. A grand jury will ultimately deliver a decision in the case based on the investigation.

On Monday, officials in Waller County released additional details about the morning Bland died, including surveillance video footage showing the hall outside of cell 95, where Bland was held. She was found dead about an hour after that.