I’ve not said anything beyond her having every right to have the attitude. But do you need to? move on.
Bullshit. You’ve also found it worthwhile to point out that her “attitude” contributed to the problem.
Please, look up “victim-blaming.” It sucks, and you’re doing it.
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No. You said that you hold her accountable (“you can easily hold BOTH of them accountable”), that her attitude contributed to the blame, and that she should have just “taken the ticket.”
As I said, she tried to take the ticket, she accepted taking the ticket.
Being “irritated” is not a reason to get arrested. It’s perfectly fine to be irritated, so long as you’re accepting the ticket the cop is giving you. In no civilized country should you expect to get arrested for being “irritated.”
Blame doesn’t work the way you’re suggesting. If someone gives me attitude and I smash their face in, I am entirely to blame. We don’t say "well, he wouldn’t have smashed his face in if the other guy hadn’t given him lip, so they’re “BOTH accountable” (your words and emphasis), or his attitude “contributed to the blame” (your words).
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That is a much more reasonable explanation than the “compression errors” nonsense I’ve been seeing some apologists trying to push (come on now, we all know what compression errors look like… and it’s not an undistorted, several-second repeat) - but these don’t seem to be evenly spaced out in time, and there are some that seem to repeat more than once. I don’t think the separate-file-overlap can explain everything that is going on here.
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Sorry, but that’s not how I see it. She had a genuine and strong emotional reaction to being pulled over and to everything that’s happened to black people in U.S. history at the hands of people looking a lot like him. She didn’t express it verbally, but he saw it in her expression and body language and couldn’t just let it go, he had to ask about it, so she told him. Again, he couldn’t just let it go, and tried to get her out of the car so he could copsplain about how he’s doing the right thing, and then they’re off. I see him as the one escalating.
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Would you mind explaining those last two words at the end of your post?
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Why was she arrested?
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Failure to grovel I believe was the offense.
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Good question!
Articles with that very title, such as this one, aren’t very clear on that:
While it may appear to be a minor offense committed by thousands of US motorists every day, under Texas transportation code, failing to signal intent to change lanes is a criminal offense. Depending on the circumstances, the offense can result in fines and even jail time.
But that’s not why Bland was arrested. After a trooper ran Bland’s license and insurance, the situation escalated, and that’s where the accounts diverge.
Authorities say Bland “became argumentative and uncooperative.” Elton Mathis, the district attorney in Waller County where Bland was stopped, saw the dash-cam footage and said Bland “was very combative” and that she “was not a model person that was stopped at a traffic stop.”
Trooper Erik Burse, a spokesman for the Texas Department of Public Safety, told the Chicago Tribune that an officer was about to issue Bland a written warning when she kicked the officer and was then arrested on a charge of assaulting a public servant. [This claim seems contradicted by the video.]
Mr. Lambert, the Blands’ attorney, who also saw the dash-cam video, tells a different story. According to his account, after checking Bland’s paperwork, a trooper asked Bland to put out her cigarette.
Bland, who seemed irritated at having been pulled over in the first place, responded, ‘Why do I have to put out a cigarette when I’m in my own car?’" Lambert told NBC News. “And that seemed to irritate him to the point where he said, ‘Get out of the car.’”
The article doesn’t go on to provide any more concrete reason than that for her arrest; I can’t find a description elsewhere of the actual charges.
I think she was basically arrested for “copping an attitude while being a black woman.”
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I’ve heard (and please don’t misunderstand me for thinking this reasonable…) that the request to put out a cigarette can be “because it can be used as a weapon by flicking it in the face of an officer.”
It’s stupid, but supposedly that’s can be the reason.
I’m in now way sure that you’re required to comply with that request. And I don’t think it’s a reasonable (or relevant) request.
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Also a key part of this from the beginning has been her complaint on the other video of having her head slammed into the ground by the cop. Have to wonder if she sustained an injury that would have left her even more disposed to suicidal thoughts than normal.
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Some folks claiming to be cops/ex-cops on Twitter said they would ask suspects to put out cigarettes durings stops as they believe some people light cigarettes to cover up smell of alcohol or other drugs.
Oh for heaven’s sake.
That’s what a breathalyzer/urine tests are for.
Do they also ask people to remove those air freshener things? Or spit out mints?
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I think the officer was irritated with her lack of respect, and was trying to reassert his dominance. I suspect that he was trying to create a situation where she refused to obey what he considered a lawful command. Of course he never expected this level of scrutiny.
It all proceeded like a regular traffic stop for a while, then the officer asked her to put out her cigarette. That was the moment where I thought, “What???” And then when he asked her to step out of the car… Maybe it all made sense to him in the moment, but in retrospect it’s crazy behavior on the part of the officer.
I don’t think the video was edited. It’s pretty damning as it is, and she seems to narrate the physical abuse she’s suffering on the side of the road.
I don’t understand why she was held in isolation in jail for three days.
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Jesus fucking christ up a tree. A district attorney should fucking well know what “combative” means and be honest enough to use it when the circumstances dictate. As for the “model person” comment…that’s beyond the pale.
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Well, it’s actually very “pale,” as in “white.” Not that I think you’d disagree, but it’s worth pointing out even with that detail that black suspects are unreasonably expected to act basically middle-class white, “or else.” And getting scared and defensive, and acting accordingly because you know how racist cops can be, sure isn’t acting like a “model [middle-class white] person.”
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According to the former cop recruited as a talking head for CNN the real problem with this whole incident is that she was acting “arrogant.”
I guess they finally got the memo that they’re not supposed to use “uppity” anymore?
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After reading all these comments it is amazing to remember that we would never have heard about this case if not for the fact that this woman was found hung to death in her cell…
Yet somehow the conversation is always steered towards “Well why was she there? Oh she wasn’t as polite as she possibly could be to a police officer.”
Chilling as all get out.
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If you ever visit Michigan, I highly recommend signalling every damned last movement on the roadways. It’s nearly guaranteed to get you pulled over here if a cop rolls up behind you unless you’re driving a year-old luxury car while white.
The comments by officials show that in the Land of the Free it’s apparently expected behavior to grovel like a peon before police officers. Ironic when you consider that the US public prides itself on having a “small government” and having historically a tight grip on government power (checks and balances). When did this conscious disconnect between the self-image of the “rugged frontiersman/one’s own master” and groveling before state authority personified through LE happen?
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