I have commented on other matters in this forum pertaining to police, so I will do the same for this incident.
1) Don't know why the end of the previous stop was included other than an attempt to show that the officer didn't have an aggressive predisposition leading into stopping Bland. Not sure I agree with the tactic of including it in the video.
2) The PC (probable cause) for the stop was valid. She clearly failed to signal her lane change, which is a violation as specified in Texas Traffic Code 545.104.
3) I had a friend that asked about protocol for which side of the vehicle the officer is supposed to approach. There is no standard. There are several correct ways, and it is completely up to the officer. As for why the initial approach was on the passenger side and the second approach was driver side, again completely up to the officer. I have done the same many times, and for various reasons.
4) You could tell from the start that Sandra Bland was pissed that she was stopped. IMO, she offered a fairly reasonable explanation as to why she committed the violation, and it seems that the Trooper at least somewhat agreed as evidenced by the warning that he was preparing to give her. Bland offered attitude from the beginning of the stop, and it appeared that the Trooper was kind of dumbfounded and didn't know how to respond.
5) Although, IMO, Bland initially escalated this into an adversarial encounter, it is also my opinion that the Trooper allowed himself to be baited into somewhat of a back and forth, one where even though he was giving orders, was no longer in control of the traffic stop.
6) "THE CIGARETTE".....The question I have gotten over and over was is that a legal request. Absolutely, and I didn't have a problem with the fact that he asked or the way that he asked. The problem started with the refusal, and his reaction to it. She does not have to honor the request, and absolutely has the right to continue smoking the cigarette. Does he have the right to ask her to step out when she refused? That's kind of tricky. He has the right to ask her to step out at any given time during the stop. The fact that he exercised that right only after she refused to put out the cigarette is what raises the eyebrows, and likely the part that will be scrutinized when evaluating whether the subsequent arrest was valid.
7) The display of the taser after verbal commands didn't work. That will come down to the policy of DPS regarding taser display and use. He got the desired result only after displaying the taser (and using some non-standard verbiage, i.e. "Yank you out of the car" and "I'm gonna light you up").
Honestly, that's all I can really analyze about the video, because the rest takes place out of camera view........
Which brings me to....
8) "The Trooper knew what he was doing when he moved out of view of the camera"......You damn right he did. His vehicle was parked in a standard manner for this traffic stop. Once he had her exit the vehicle, I guess they were supposed to just stand there right next to traffic whizzing by. Granted, they weren't on the freeway with cars doing 70, but I promise you that you don't want to get hit by a car doing 35 either.
Overall analysis:
I believe Ms. Bland was verbally resistant, and verbally uncooperative. I also believe the Trooper lost control of the stop and it spiraled from there. I won't comment on whether or not Bland kicked him or whether he used excessive force to subdue her because that entire portion of the video happened out of view of the camera. It reminds me of a fight I was in with a handcuffed female arrestee. In a lot of ways, it mirrored this stop, and I am blessed that mine did not turn out this way, and the arrestee pleaded guilty to Resisting Arrest (although she could have easily been charged with the same charge Bland had). I was kicked in the leg, elbowed, and the like, just like what is claimed here. Does that necessarily mean I side with the Trooper? No. I think he was just as culpable as Bland in this stop going south. Sometimes, you have to pick your battles more wisely.
Ultimately, the most material parts will be whether or not having her exit the car was the right move and what happened out of view of the camera. I'm not ready to hop on board with those that emphatically say she should not have been arrested, but I also am not quite ready to say that she should have been arrested either.
I left some space for REASONABLE questions and replies, which I will do my best to answer as impartially as I can, based on personal experience and Texas law.
