By Helen Coster
On July 10 Sandra Bland, a 28-year-old African-American woman, was pulled over by a state trooper in Prairie View, Texas, after allegedly failing to use a turn signal. The confrontation turned violent, and Bland was arrested and charged with assaulting an officer. She died three days later in her jail cell, after hanging herself.
On Tuesday authorities in Texas released dashboard camera footage showing the arrest.
The video shows how the traffic stop quickly escalated. After pulling Bland over, the state trooper, Brian Encinia, who is white, wrote up a ticket and returned to Bland’s car. He then asked Bland to put out her cigarette.
“I’m in my own car. I don’t have to put out my cigarette,” Bland said.
Encinia ordered Bland out of her car.
When she refused he shouted: “I’m going to yank you out.”
Encinia then reached into the car to remove Bland, who refused to cooperate. Encinia called for backup. After a struggle with Bland, he pulled out a Taser and screamed: “I will light you up.”
Out of view of the dashboard camera, Bland can be heard screaming: “You’re about to break my wrist. Can you stop?” as Encinia and a female officer restrain her.
At one point Encinia says: “When you pull away from me, you are resisting arrest.”
Bland says: “You just slammed me. You knocked my head on the ground. I got epilepsy, you motherfucker.”
Encinia replies: “Good, good.”
The department has since placed Encinia on administrative duty because he violated arrest protocol. The F.B.I. and Texas’ Department of Public Safety are investigating Bland’s death.
Reuters spoke with Lisa Wayne, a criminal defense lawyer in Colorado, to understand the legal aspects of Bland’s arrest.
Do arrest procedures vary by county or state?
Dictated by the U.S. Constitution, the law in terms of police contact with a citizen doesn’t vary. State law may be construed more strictly than federal law, but it cannot be less than what federal law dictates. For example, the law requires that police must have a reasonable suspicion of a crime in order to make contact with a citizen. The state cannot get rid of this requirement and say police do not have to have any reason for contact. Once contact becomes an actual arrest, the protocol may vary from state to state, county to county. But the law governing actual contact with a citizen doesn’t vary.
The law varies based on whether you’re in the street or in your car. If you’re walking down the street and an officer asks you for your name and ID, you have the right to ask why they are asking for that information. If a police officer can justify that contact, as a citizen in this country you have to provide that information. You have a right to ask them why. If they can’t answer that, then you have a right to walk away.
If you’re pulled over in your car, it has to be for some kind of violation. It’s usually a traffic violation. A police officer has a right to pull you over, ask for your ID and insurance information. Under the law, you have to provide those if you’re the driver. You can ask the officer why you’ve been pulled over. Under the law, the officer should tell you what the violation is.
Do you need to comply with a police demand to put out your cigarette?
There is no law that would require you to put out your cigarette. When we have contact with the police, there are ways to escalate and de-escalate the situation. Bland clearly was annoyed that the trooper was asking her to do that.
A hypothetical question, not related to Bland’s arrest: Do you need to comply with a police demand to get off your phone?
You have the right to film, photograph or record law enforcement when you’re in a public space. You have the right to videotape when it doesn’t interfere or obstruct from your detention or arrest. The ACLU advises people to avoid initiating an argument with an officer or doing anything that the officer could perceive as a physical threat or resistance. If an officer thinks he is under physical threat he can detain you immediately.
The ACLU is developing an app, the “Mobile Justice App,” that allows you to put your phone on and actually videotape the incident.
Do you need to comply with a police demand to get out of your car?
Not unless it’s related to the violation. If a police officer smells alcohol on your breath, he or she can ask you to get out of the car. If you’ve been pulled over for a turn signal violation, there’s no reason to ask you to get out of the car unless there’s something additional in that interaction that rises to the level of probable cause, such as an officer seeing a baggie of pot in the car, or something else that gives rise to a crime.
In what situation is it appropriate for an officer to handcuff someone?
Once you’re under arrest you can be handcuffed. Reasonable suspicion by an officer is a lower standard for arrest, and it’s justification for an officer to pull you over. To handcuff you it has to rise to probable cause, which is a higher standard, and allows an officer to detain and arrest you. You can’t be arrested for a non-jailable offense.
Why do you think people aren’t more aware of their rights in these kinds of situations?
It’s kind of like Miranda rights. We’ve all heard them. The problem is that in the real world when contact is made with a police officer, it’s intimidating for anyone. That’s part of power and authority and the average person complies with that. We know we have these rights and putting them in action and actually using them is a different thing. Putting them in action is intimidating.
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