I think the point is better expressed that failing to keep your mouth shut to a cop doesn’t make you deserve to be arrested any more than failing to watch your drink makes you deserve to be raped.
Are you EFing kidding me? I’m not known for using my turn signal as I should (hey, sue me, I’m from New England), but if I’m moving over to let a cop pass??? Absolutely 100% of the time. That’s like asking if I come to a full stop at a stop sign if I know a cop is right behind me.
Am I building a strawman? Why would you think I’m being unreasonable? What evidence is there for arresting her, other than she was disrespecting his authority?
In other words, he just didn’t like how she was treating him, so, arrest her! The technicality of the law might make arresting her for any willy-nilly reason he wants legal, but that doesn’t make it the right thing to do.
I think that the officer in question is going to get hammered for his conduct…and, at least what I saw in the video he should be. I’m not disputing any of that. I disagree that this is a case of ‘driving while black’…I think it’s a case of two people who instantly got on each others nerves in what should have been a mere traffic stop. But I concede that MMV, and around here it seems that jumping to it being a full on racial issue is the default setting. Even if it was a racial issue I think that this whole sorry mess could have been avoided by a bit of common sense and curtsy on both sides. Now we have one lady dead and a cop who has probably shot his career in the foot, as well as yet another explosive and rancorous police issue…and over a freaking stupid traffic violation!
During the exceedingly brief interaction prior to the cigarette request, Blunt was plain-spoken and gruff, but not in any way verbally abusive. If she had spoken in that manner to a server at a restaurant, she would not have been asked to leave. She was relatively civil, just not charming or deferential or flirtatious or groveling. And I’m uncomfortable with the idea of a justice system in which getting arrested hinges not on what you do, but on if the officer finds you likable or not.
I’m kinda anal about using turn signals myself. If a bend in the road is tight enough I have been known to reflexively signal.
Regardless of how dutiful we are about signaling the questions at hand are:
A) Should you be pulled over for it (yes…you CAN be pulled over for it but SHOULD you be pulled over for it?)
B) Does failing to signal merit being physically pulled out of your car (when there is literally no other issue at hand)?
Yes…MY point had nothing to do with ‘someone was being all meany mean to him. His wittle feewings got all hurted inside’. So, yeah…strawman.
She refused a lawful order to exit her vehicle. This has been explained in this thread several times. The CNN video pretty much says the same thing. He WAS within his right to ask her to leave, and when she didn’t he was within his rights to arrest her for resisting. Whether he could have made that fly in court would have been up to the courts (I doubt it, based on what I’ve read on this), but that doesn’t mean he couldn’t arrest her.
She refused a lawful order from a duly appointed police officer to exit her vehicle. That he was at least half (if not more) of the problem in escalating this cluster fuck is beside the point. She tried to rules lawyer this guy and resist said lawful order and so got herself arrested for it.
The right thing to do?? He was entitled to do what he did, as has been pointed out several times in this thread. He can have a reason or no reason in a lawful traffic stop to ask her to exit her vehicle. As for technicalities, it’s those very things that make up the law. I bet that if you (or I or anyone) can use a technicality to get out of something wrt the law we aren’t going refuse to do it. 
You’re probably right. I may have been conflating the more common situation of emergency vehicles with lights flashing. I know I’m always super careful when I see a cop, and blow a sigh of relief when they make a different turn or pass me.
I think, tho, many people may not be thinking their best when a cop is right behind them. Similar to my dislike about red light cameras. Instead of thinking about progressing through the intersection safely, I’m worried about the camera. I can imagine people getting flustered when they see a cop in their rearview mirror. IMO, an understandable reaction to a cop’s potential to cost you considerable time, money, and inconvenience. “Geez - what if one of my taillights is out? Did I do something wrong before I noticed the cop?”
For many law-abiding people, any interaction with police can be stressful. In many peoples’ minds, I imagine they are thinking, “I was simply minding my business and want you to go away.” Probably not best to say, tho.
The cop is under no obligation to tell the whole truth about why he is talking to you. So it is often a good idea to restrain yourself from offering any more than required, or from trying to guess what the cop is after. Be polite, brief in your responses, cooperative in your actions, and hope for the best.
I would be fine with these things if we saw officers actually being held accountable. For a variety of reasons they aren’t.
As for driving while black statistics bear it out.
Yeah, these two people clearly got on each others nerves. I submit it is the police officer’s duty to remain calm and defuse the situation. The officer in this case actively ramped up the conflict. He had no cause to do that and because he did a woman is dead.
Miss Bland did not scream at the officer until he was hurting her. The way you wrote it there, you seem to be trying to give people the impression that while Miss Bland was explaining why she was upset she was screaming at the officer; that isn’t an accurate telling of the events.
I’d like to point out too that Miss Bland was about to sign her ticket/warning when the escalation began. She at no time refused to sign the ticket or accept it.
Sensible precaution is the key, here. For instance, your car should be a rolling statement, one that says “I have a buttload of money, and if I am not a lawyer myself, I have one!” Reasonable efforts at complexion control should be observed, with an emphasis on the paler skin tones. Political bumper stickers are best avoided, especially those that reflect an improper attitude towards authority. There should be as little question as possible that you are one of those who are protected and served, and not one of those protected from.
Such a well maintained regimen of clear respectability can help assure that you are not subject to the vexations and annoyances that are more properly visited upon the unworthy. Policemen respect such courteous considerations, and are more likely to be generous and tolerant of your minor traffic infractions.
The way you wrote this response, you suggest that you don’t spend much time reading a post for the content, only for potential “corrections”.
That won’t take years. The answer to the first is Yes. The answer to the second is No, but it is irrelevant to this case because she wasn’t arrested for complaining.
Regards,
Shodan
Did you notice that Miss Bland was attempting to do that but the officer ordered her to put her phone down, thus ruining her video?
It seems that he decided to have her exit her vehicle because his feelings were hurt.
Up till that point he was content to give her a warning.
A traffic cop complimenting and encouraging safe practices, my word, when did this turn into Orwellian Nazi Russia???
At least my post was an accurate summation of events.
I get that the laws allowed him to do everything he did. And that’s the whole problem. An officer should have an actual reason for making an arrest. You know, like committing a crime or something.
“Would you mind putting out your cigarette?”
“Yes I mind.”
“Ok. I’m gonna have to ask you to step out of your vehicle.”
In what world does that make any sense?
Do you, or anyone else, really think that the arrest happened because of the traffic violation and not because of Miss Bland’s lack of deference and subservience to the officer?
Or like committing one even. 
And I get that as well. But the plain fact is he DID have the right to ask her to leave the car and when she didn’t he had the right to arrest her. Whether any of that would have stood up in court is kind of moot at this point, since now she is dead.
Basically, if the law is wrong and cops shouldn’t have the authorization to ask people to leave their car then the right place to fight that is in the freaking court room, not on a message board and sure as hell not on the side of the road with a pissed off dude with a badge and a gun.