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“I Will Light You Up!”: Dash Cam Video Shows Sandra Bland Arrest

HeadlineJul 22, 2015

And in Texas, newly released dash cam footage shows the arrest of Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old African-American woman who was found dead in a jail cell in Waller County, Texas, last week after a traffic stop for not signaling a lane change. County authorities have said her death was a suicide, a claim that her friends and family have disputed. In the arrest video, Texas State Trooper Brian Encinia approaches the driver’s side of Bland’s car and asks her why she appears to be irritated.

Trooper Brian Encinia: “You OK?”

Sandra Bland: “I’m waiting on you. This is your job. I’m waiting on you.”

Encinia: “You seem very irritated.”

Bland: “I am. I really am, because I feel like it’s crap, what I’m getting a ticket for. I was getting out of your way. You were speeding up, tailing me, so I moved over, and you stopped me. So, yeah, I am a little irritated, but that doesn’t stop you from giving me a ticket, so.”

Encinia: “Are you done?”

Bland: “You asked me what was wrong, and I told you.”

Encinia: “OK.”

Bland: “So now I’m done, yeah.”

Encinia: “OK. You mind putting out your cigarette, please?”

Bland: “I’m in my car. Why do I have to put out my cigarette?”

Encinia: “Well, you can step on out now.”

Bland: “I don’t have to step out of my car.”

Encinia: “Step out of the car.”

In the video, Trooper Encinia then threatens to “light [her] up.”

Encinia: “I’m giving you a lawful order. I am going to drag you out of there.”

Bland: “You opened my car door. So you’re threatening to drag me out of my own car?”

Encinia: “Get out of the car!”

Bland: “And then you’re going to assault me? Wow.”

Encinia: “I will light you up! Get out! Now!”

In a later section of the video, which previously came to light after it was filmed by a bystander, Bland accuses police of slamming her head into the ground, and says, “I can’t even hear.” She also tells Trooper Encinia she has epilepsy, and he replies, “Good.” Some have claimed the dash cam footage released by authorities appears to have been edited. Three days after her arrest, Sandra Bland was found dead in her jail cell. Trooper Encinia has been placed on administrative duty for the duration of the investigation into Sandra Bland’s death, which the Waller County District Attorney’s Office is treating “like a murder investigation.” On Tuesday, Texas state Senator Royce West told reporters that the newly released dash cam footage shows that Bland should never have been arrested in the first place. Meanwhile, at Sandra Bland’s memorial service Tuesday, her mother, Geneva Reed-Veal, spoke about the death of her daughter.

Geneva Reed-Veal: “Now listen, let’s be for real. That was my baby. She wasn’t my convict. She wasn’t the suspect. She was my baby. And it would behoove y’all to think about what you all were doing at her age. So some of the stuff that’s in the news is true, some of the stuff that’s in the news is not. But the real issue here is something occurred that is going to change the world.”

Sandra Bland’s mother, Geneva Reed-Veal. Sandra Bland’s funeral will be held Saturday in Lisle, Illinois.

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