# Sandra Bland video **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 22, 2015, 5:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859 "2015-07-22T05:50:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/121 "2015-07-22T19:19:47Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > Am I the only one who doesn’t like either of them in that video? > > She gives the cop a piece of her mind. Her right, but we all know the best way to beat a ticket is to be nice. > > When she finishes answering the question, he didn’t have to ask her if she’s finished. > > She baits him, he takes the bait, spiral downward ensues. > > I find 60/40 at fault, cop being 60. He’s a pro, and when she was done being upset he could have handed her the warning and let it go. As a cop, if you can’t ignore people bitching, you are not cut out for the job. > > But she overreacted, and I think she was trying to get a rise out of the cop. > > As to the question of suicide: I have no idea what happened there. You’re not the only one. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/122 "2015-07-22T19:21:47Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > This is just a side question, a possibly dumb one, and one not really specific to this case, but would she have been allowed access to her cell phone? I don’t know any of my family or friend’s phone numbers off by heart these days. I don’t either. Unllike many posters here, I can easily put myself in this woman’s shoes. I can imagine myself only managing to remember one number. Maybe if I weren’t stressed out of my mind, my recall would be better. But nope, I can only remember one string of numbers–the number that belongs to the relative that is the least helpful in urgent emergencies. Oh, she makes a mean lasgna and will give you the shirt off her back (as long as you blow enough smoke up her skirt). But in an emergency, she always acts simple. Especially when it involves money. So I call her up and she promises to work on this situation for me. But I know what that means. It means my ass is sitting in jail while she tries to figure out what a bail bondsman is or the logistics of wiring money. And unfortunately she’s one of these fools who “can’t do computers” and can’t google anything to save her life. Or mine. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/123 "2015-07-22T19:22:51Z")
> [@watchwolf49](#): > > [Post #35](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=18538747&postcount=35) isn’t mine … Exactly. Which is why you need to go back and read it because you were asked why you thought it was illegal to arrest someone for a traffic violation and you responded with a something about smoking cigarettes. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/124 "2015-07-22T19:30:12Z")
> [@bup](#): > > I don’t intend this as a gotcha, but I’m curious if you have ever been pulled over for not using a turn signal to change lanes. Or not using a turn signal in any event. > > I haven’t. I would like to know if any dopers have, and their race. I was pulled over and had my vehicle subjected to a drug sniffing dog search for the violation of driving in the left lane while not passing. I was extremely civil to the cop who pulled me over, explaining that there were so many trucks driving on the wet road, that I simply couldn’t see in the right lane and thought it safer to drive in the left lane. I should add that this was very early in the AM, and no one was on the road except a long line of truckers. I left my hotel at about 5:30AM, and a cop followed me for about 20 minutes, then did the “pretend to exit but get right back on” trick, and then followed me until it got light, at which point he flew past me on the left. It was about 30 minutes later that another cop pulled up behind and pulled me over. I should add that this happened in Kansas, and I was DWDACLP (Driving While Displaying A California License Plate). I can’t know for sure, but I have to think the CA Plate was my undoing. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/125 "2015-07-22T19:31:22Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > This is the source of my sense that sarcasm is the primary tone of the post. For instance, my snarkometer measures “…and the scarcity of lynchings in the last five decades all support the obvious conclusion of suicide…” at 874 millihicks. Very sarcastic. Ever the bright-eyed optimist, you are. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bruce\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/126 "2015-07-22T19:38:00Z")
It’s not 60/40 for cop/woman being at fault, more like 80/20. Despite her initial bitchiness, I felt sorry for her the more I watched the video. If I was the cop I would have just wrote her a ticket. It’s silly it had to turn into an arrest all for not putting out a cigarette. It’s a lot of headache and work to get a woman like that in cuffs. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/127 "2015-07-22T19:38:37Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I don’t either. > Unllike many posters here, I can easily put myself in this woman’s shoes. I can imagine myself only managing to remember one number. If that’s the case, seriously consider to quit using “speed dial” or whatever it is you use on your phone. Look the number UP for Bob or whoever it is you are going to call, then dial it manually. Those important numbers will have a much better chance of staying in your memory. Not so much for when you end up wrongly in county jail. But for other much more likely situations when you are both up poop creek and also don’t have your cell phone. PSA now ending. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/128 "2015-07-22T19:54:34Z")
> [@Bruce\_Wayne](#): > > It’s not 60/40 for cop/woman being at fault, more like 80/20. Despite her initial bitchiness, I felt sorry for her the more I watched the video. If I was the cop I would have just wrote her a ticket. It’s silly it had to turn into an arrest all for not putting out a cigarette. It’s a lot of headache and work to get a woman like that in cuffs. I think reasonable people can debate the split, but the point (that I think you’re agreeing with) is that neither behaved appropriately. I’m surprised at how many in this thread seem to see the split as 100/0 or 0/100 ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/129 "2015-07-22T19:58:19Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > I’m surprised at how many in this thread seem to see the split as 100/0 or 0/100 Also, that the number needs add to 100 for that matter. The cop could have been 90 percent jerk and the areestee 80 percent dumbass. ---
**Author:** ![drad\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/aeb1de/32.png) [@drad\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drad_dog)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/130 "2015-07-22T20:01:54Z")
> [@Terr](#): > > The law is on the books. Policemen enforce it, at their discretion. Maybe everyone else was driving really lawfully all day and the guy needed to give someone a ticket. I mean, once I was stopped for going 3 miles over the speed limit (gave it to my go-to lawyer for tickets, he laughed, I didn’t pay the ticket). > > It is the HEIGHT of stupidity to aggravate the cop that stopped you for a traffic violation, and ten times more if he’s just giving you a warning. Bland’s behavior was irrational. Cops naturally respond to irrational behavior with increased suspicion. Then she refuses the lawful order to step out of the car (is being asked to step out of the car rare too?). Thus things escalate. Well define irrational. What is the scenario where it is legal and procedural that: he does his job in giving the warning and then asks her to put out a cigarette for no apparent reason, and she doesn’t want to and tells him, and then he escalates that statement into a reason to remove her from the car, and then drags her out of the car under a threat of tasing for that reason? Saying he has the right to arrest is not the same as saying that he did arrest her, or that he was correct in his behavior, or that he had the right to arrest her at that time. And guys, they already said the “arrest” was not procedural. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/131 "2015-07-22T20:05:43Z")
What’s interesting about the thread, really, is how many posts it’s been since anyone talked about the title of the thread or what the most serious matter in the entire affair is, which is the doctored video. That right there is as smoking a gun as you can ask for in this scenario short of a signed confession. Any reasonable explanation for that is one that suggests serious, serious malfeasance. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/132 "2015-07-22T20:05:47Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > If that’s the case, seriously consider to quit using “speed dial” or whatever it is you use on your phone. > > Look the number UP for Bob or whoever it is you are going to call, then dial it manually. Those important numbers will have a much better chance of staying in your memory. > > Not so much for when you end up wrongly in county jail. But for other much more likely situations when you are both up poop creek and also don’t have your cell phone. > > PSA now ending. While you’re lecturing folks, I’ve got my own PSA. Please answer your phone, folks. I don’t care if you’re at the movies, at a restaurant, or in a musuem. A relative or a friend could be trying to reach you from behind bars. And sadly, that could be their one opportunity to make contact before they disappear off the face of the earth. \ It used to be that you’d call someone and they’d pick up. But in this age of texting and voice mail, folks aren’t as quick to respond anymore. Just like they don’t bother keeping numbers in their heads. I don’t think PSAs are the solution here. I think we should stop turning jails into blackholes that peoplle disappear into for days on end. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/133 "2015-07-22T20:17:20Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > While you’re lecturing folks, I’ve got my own PSA. > . Who is “lecturing”? Apparently you can only remember one mostly useless phone number. I gave you a possible method to avoid that. Like you, I also can’t remember shit number wise. Which is WHY I almost always do NOT use automatic methods for dialing phone numbers, passwords, things like that. It forces me to remember important stuff by rote and repetition. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/134 "2015-07-22T20:19:20Z")
While I think the cop almost certainly over-reacted, I wonder if more of the blame needs to be on the folks administering the jail. Why was bail set so high, and why was she just not released after a few hours and given a fine? Seems like there is blame to spread around here, but people should not held in jail for 3 days for a traffic violation as minor as not signaling when changing lanes. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/135 "2015-07-22T20:21:39Z")
This is all too much like “When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong” from _Chappell Show._ > [@monstro](#): > > While you’re lecturing folks, I’ve got my own PSA. > > Please answer your phone, folks. I don’t care if you’re at the movies, at a restaurant, or in a musuem. . No _No_ **NO!** A thousand times NO! Turn your phone off in these places or stay out! ---
**Author:** ![Whack-a-Mole](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/whack-a-mole/32/141_2.png) [@Whack-a-Mole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whack-a-Mole)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/136 "2015-07-22T20:22:30Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > But as mentioned, the police were legally justified in arresting her the minute they pulled her over. So your metric for right or wrong is whether the police are legally justified in their action? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/137 "2015-07-22T20:22:46Z")
> [@billfish678](#): > > She was really a victim of nicotine shaming. Is that a racist thing too? ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/138 "2015-07-22T20:23:54Z")
NEW VIDEO RELEASED: > **[Officials Release New Version of Sandra Bland Dashcam Footage](https://time.com/3968193/new-sandra-bland-dashcam-footage/)** > > Police said the original video was not edited Apparently it is a complete video without the previous inconsistencies. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/139 "2015-07-22T20:24:04Z")
> [@RickJay](#): > > What’s interesting about the thread, really, is how many posts it’s been since anyone talked about the title of the thread or what the most serious matter in the entire affair is, which is the doctored video. > > That right there is as smoking a gun as you can ask for in this scenario short of a signed confession. Any reasonable explanation for that is one that suggests serious, serious malfeasance. Agreed 100%. ---
**Author:** ![Bricker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@Bricker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bricker)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2015, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859/140 "2015-07-22T20:24:08Z")
> [@elucidator](#): > > [http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/07/22/3683281/supreme-court-say-sandra-blands-arrest/](http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2015/07/22/3683281/supreme-court-say-sandra-blands-arrest/) > > This site claims that… > (I offer the excerpt from a notoriously liberal website, with standard liberal cootie protocols. If it is in error, I await correction.) > > I leap to the wild presumption that at that time, no arrest was contemplated, as the citation has been filled out and only her signature would be required for her to go on her merry way. Why would the officer fill out a warning citation if an arrest was imminent? As I understand Texas law, the officer has the discretion to effect an arrest for even a minor offense as long as a citation has not been issued. It’s not completely clear to me what kind of effect a “warning citation” has. And undoubtedly, regardless of the legality of the contemplated arrest, I’m virtually certain the arrest violated his department’s policy. But speaking only to strict legality of his action, my best understanding is that until she signs the citation, the officer has the legal power to arrest her, even though her offense is itself only punishable by a fine. And if he is planning an arrest, then the order to extinguish the cigarette is a lawful one. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sandra-bland-video/725859.md?page=8)