Sandra Bland arrest video released following death

Cuts in the video and looping footage have raised questions about whether the dashcam recording of the arrest of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old woman who was found dead in her jail cell after being charged with assaulting a Texas state trooper, was edited.

The video shows state trooper Brian Encinia stopping Bland in her silver Hyundai Azera after he says she failed to signal a lane change.

“You seem very irritated”, Encinia can be heard saying in the video as he stands next to the driver-side window of Bland’s vehicle.

The trooper said in the arrest affidavit that Bland was “swinging her elbows at me and then kicked my right leg in the shin”. The confrontation continues off-camera but is still audible as the two yell at each other and the officer puts her in handcuffs.

In a press conference late Tuesday, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety said that Encinia failed to “maintain professionalism” throughout his interaction with Bland, and that he has been taken off the street and placed on administrative duty for duration of the investigation into Bland’s death.

Prosecutors say it’s too early to draw conclusions about her death.

Bland’s family has called for an independent autopsy and involvement by the U.S. Department of Justice in the probe of her death.

“Step out or I will remove you”, he says repeatedly.

Bland had been working as an alumni representative for Prairie View A&M University, where she had graduated.

West said he concluded she had been threatened with a Taser after he reviewed the video, The Washington Post reported.

The almost 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.

Texas state leaders, including Senator Royce West and Lt. Governor Dan Patrick, emphasized the investigation would be transparent and thorough.

Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Brian Encinia.

Several officers administered CPR to try and revive her, the newspaper said, citing the sheriff’s account. Family members have said nothing in her background suggested she was mentally troubled, and at least one friend said she was just venting after a bad day.

DPS is also making available the dash camera video from the traffic stop of her vehicle on July 10.

Encina proceeds to pull Bland out of the auto and arrest her even while she continuously asks why she is being arrested.

On Monday, the district attorney in Texas announced that Bland’s death would be investigated thoroughly as a murder, after a public outcry.

A medical examiner ruled Bland’s death a suicide, but her family says she would never kill herself. Androphy says some of what happened during the traffic stop in a gray area, legally speaking. She died in an apparent suicide in jail three days later. Mathis said he will take the case to a grand jury, which is expected to be impaneled in August.

She was taken to the Waller County Jail, about 60 miles from Houston, on 10 July and found dead in her cell three days later, having apparently hanged herself.

This video doesn’t explain what occurred in the Waller County jail on July 13, but it does reveal that Encinia lost control of the arrest and resorted to force to quell the situation.