“Are you done?”

28 thoughts on ““Are you done?””

1. Note: it appears that Bland did not come to a full stop at her turn, and there is a stop sign there. That could have been why he started following her.

   I've been reading the police pages on Facebook, and most of the police are defending him, even saying that she could have poked him in the eye with her cigarette. I saw a similar situation with the Indian man thrown to the ground in Arkansas a few months ago. I've observed that police usually defend their own no matter what the situation, and dismiss any citizen debate with "when you're a cop, you can tell me how to do my job." That is why citizens are apprehensive about the police investigating themselves.

2. The cigarette bother me more than it seems to bother the officer here. She's still holding it after she's out of the car. What's up with that?

   I think the cop was just pissed off because she was waving it around in a disrespectful manner. But who knows?

3. it boggles my mind that cops would defend the way this traffic stop went down. I made traffic stops for 4 years and I'd like to believe my former fellow troopers would see this as I do–as bullshit policing caused by those small minded types that should never be allowed to wear the badge. You can never take interactions with the public personally, let alone expecting folks to agree with your choice to single them out with what usually amounts to a hefty fine.

   Peter– I like the advice you give to students to comply…I go further and advise friends in minor infraction situations to also just tell the truth (law school be damned)–even if that means admitting you were driving too fast, failed to signal, and so on. Truthfulness goes a long ways…and is the most likely way to end up with warning, at least in my experience.

   That said, cops have to be the ones with the thick skin and respectful tones, regardless of who you are dealing with or how you are being treated. This really is policing 101.

4. Police defend him because they only see the part of the video. The part where he's trying to arrest her and she's calling him a pussy and putting up a fight. He did that OK. And she was in a pissing match with him at that point. But tell the cops to watch the whole damn thing (which cops normally tell others. And ask them, "do you think you could have handled this a better way?"

   Do you think he handled this poorly? Then why are you defending him? Why not demand better from the profession?

   Or, and this is tougher but some cops are up for the challenge, put yourself in her shoes. From beginning to extraction. And ask them to point out where she errors. Because she *does* say, whatever you want, whatever you're going to do, you're going to give me a ticket. She was totally compliant. She was *not* resisting physically before she was under arrest.

   So give her the damn ticket and leave. You can't expect everyone to grovel and thank you for pulling them over and giving them a warning. And there was no good reason to pull her over. She knew that. Deep down maybe he did, too? I don't know.

   He wanted her to kiss his ass… and then he would be a nice guy by just giving her a warning (based on a sample of two, he seemed to like giving out warning). And then she could thank him and applaud him for being such a nice upstanding police officer.

5. Dustin,
   Thanks. I also say this to friends and students: Sure, admit your traffic violation. But don't admit you have weed on you!

6. Let me re-emphasize: Watch the whole video. It's only 15 minutes or so.

   When I saw the parts of video first online, I saw an angry woman asserting rights she didn't have, calling a cop a pussy, and resisting arresting. I saw a cop who was trying to control a situation. I too rolled my eyes. But just like it's not fair to watch a video of cop arresting a man with force unless you know the whole scene, the key here happens before the fight (with a handcuffed woman).

   I would show cops the whole video and ask three things:
   1) Do you really think the officer handle this in the best way he could?
   2) at what point could/should the police officer have acted differently?
   3) I know you weren't there, but what would have you done?

7. would you say that the officer was unreasonable in the manner in which he seized bland?

8. The whole thing here is just fucked up. If you're a cop you're likely going to spend a good deal of time dealing with drunks, headcases, people having real bad days etc etc. Sometimes those are just your co-workers and more likely your bosses.

   This arrest didn't need to happen. She certainly didn't need to be sitting in jail waiting to be bonded out. It sorta reminds me of Ferguson's use of jail to increase their revenue. Difference is in Ferguson the cop was certainly legally and probably morally justified in firing his weapon.

   This is just bad policing. Whether the soon to be not a police officer Encinia realizes that I don't know. Any cop who watches this between her being pulled over and being taken down and thinks this is appropriate policing needs to either find another job or get the hell off the street.

   As for the comment about telling the cops the truth when pulled over I got pulled over by an Illinois State Trooper one time for speeding. He asked me how fast I was going. I said: "Too Fast". He laughed and let me go after running my license. Probably not used to getting a funny response.

   People should be respectful to police. Police should be respectful and act professionally even when they're being treated badly. I know everyone has off days, but I suspect the officer here had many "off" days. He needed to learn to not to take it personally.

   Being respectful is a value too often underrated by society. Politeness is underrated.

   I just want to thank Peter and all of the commenters here for both the post and incisive commentary. It's too bad you fucking losers don't have something better to do on a Saturday night that comment on the internet. Smiles……..then realizes I'm commenting.

9. And cops wonder why the average citizen hates them. The Thin Blue Line must be erased. And next time you watch a movie you should root for the internal affairs guys, not the 'maverick' cop who doesn't play by the rules

10. Prod, how much of this incident do you think comes down to state vs local police culture? My anecdotal experience is that statues tend to be more paramilitary, think in bright-line rules, have more officer-safety concerns because they tend to work alone and separated by lots of space/time from any backup. They also tend not to be too into the whole community-policing thing because, well, no one lives on the highway.

    That mindset works for them on the road, but then when you transplant it into a local environment, maybe not so much.

    Do we know why the trooper was even working in an urban-ish area covered by local agencies?

    JSM

11. Sorry, should be Prof not Prod. I know you're Orthodox!

12. Great stuff, as usual, Peter.
    As I can't make out the video's part when Dispatch is answering his call-in about Bland, please say if you can tell if they inform him of key parts of her Record, which (according to nbcchicago.com/investigations/Suburban-Woman-Found-Dead-in-Jail-Had-Previous-Encounters-With-Police-316025661.html )
    had quite a bit, incl. a DUI.

    If he was told of her DUI etc., his conduct becomes somewhat more understandable.

13. Why is no one addressing race here?
    The simple fact is he PROFILED her.
    He never mentioned her not coming to a complete stop at a stop sign.
    He saw a black woman with out of state plates turn onto the street and he went after her.
    I'm not saying he was necessarily looking for a reason to arrest her, but he sure as HE sure as hell wanted to see what this black woman from another state was doing in HIS town!
    I'm a white woman who dated an NYPD officer and who's brother is a California State corrections officer. I'm not a "jump on the race bandwagon" type (sorry, Mike Brown sealed his own fate, but the Eric Garner situation pissed me off!) but this guy is a fucking RACIST who baited her and ESCALATED instead of DEescalating and was looking for this woman to respect his "white man authority".
    He has NO business being a cop. Period.

14. Highway interdiction of the kind state troopers often do involves pulling over people from out of state for petty bs and then asking questions when they seem agitated. Trooper Encinia was not harassing Bland because of a lane change. He was interested in her for something more serious. Why? Maybe because she has out of state plates. Maybe because she was black, although I doubt it. I suspect that when he arrested her he believed he would find more inside the car upon an inventory search. He didn't, but given that Bland had marijuana in her system he may not have been too far off. Casual drug users react badly to police stops, because they have ample reason to not like police.

15. My point is merely that this video looks different when you approach it from the perspective of "trooper suspects Bland of drugs/serious crimes" and not "cop stopping random person for lane change". If that was what was going on, Encinia's actions make more sense.

    Once upon a time the public wanted police to do whatever legally possible in order to stick their noses where they don't belong and uncover stuff. It seems with crime down, those days are over.

16. Re: (1st) Anonymous, on when cops "dismiss any citizen debate with 'when you're a cop, you can tell me how to do my job.' "

    I respectfully urge all cops, lawyers, politicians, shit-shovelers, etc., to never throw that argument at a critic, because it proves too much.
    If we (pre-rookies) can NEVER "tell you how to do your job", you are seeking zero accountability, i.e. a blank check.
    You'll end up w/ total fear, and no helpful tips, from John Q. Public, who may gamble that he'll get a fairer shake from gangbangers or mobsters. (From what I read, Capone was pretty damn good at PR.)

    You're better off arguing that
    "in this particular case, the cop had to do X, because of circumstances Y+Z. Since you're not a cop (or politician, shit-shoveler, etc.), I'll PATIENTLY explain why…."

17. (follow-up from 3:18 PM) When I included shit-shovelers, I was being facetious; it's rare that their conduct affects John Q. Public as much as does the conduct of cops, lawyers, and politicians.

18. Peter, I was with you right up until you wrote, "We're only talking about it because she killed herself (or was brutally murdered by correctional officers)." Do you really believe she was murdered by correction officers?

    Is there some evidence of homicide by the detention deputies I've missed?

19. No. No evidence. I meant that line sarcastically to preempt off topic comments.

20. Okay, fair enough. For a minute there I thought maybe you had been spending too much time on Tumblr. I should have known better.

21. Yeah, sarcasm doesn't translate well to the written word, they say. It's a lesson I have never been able to learn.

22. It does seem unlikely that the officer's physically killed her. More likely they just denied her life-saving epilepsy medication after giving her a head injury. The former is quite rare, the latter not uncommon.

23. Why is it so hard to believe that somebody might get suicidally depressed after spending three days in jail for a BS traffic violation?

    Anyway, don't answer this. This is where I do not want comments on this post to go.

24. It's certainly possible that someone could get suicidally depressed (esp. given a previous suicide attempt). It's also possible that the individual's state of mind was affected by being denied necessary medication (as Bland seems to have been—intake records weirdly disagree about her medication needs). It's also possible (though unlikely) that the person was murdered. Generally when there's a body, one should consider all possibilities, not just the most congenial.

25. The officer showed immediately that he was itching for a confrontation and escalation. He notices that she is not smiling and likely irritated,so he delves into her state of mind instead of taking care of businesṣ. She dared to decline a chance to show the proper " deference " to the copś inflated sense of authority which irritated the cop.

    Then, the cop asked her to put out her cigarette only because he either dislikes the smell or used as an excuse to establish the pecking order and show he is in charge..totally an trip. The instant she refuses to put the cig out, the cop decides to show her who the boss is by ordering her out of the caṛ. This is now a pissing match and the cop is damned sure to make her pay for her attitude. Then the cop shows his lack of professionalism by calling her a pussy back, and saying " good" when she notifies him of her serious medical conditioṇ. He may have been legally right but is totally to blame for the escalatioṇ

    Citizens do not have to smile and shuffle and kowtow to cops, and cops should ignore such nonsense…a cop with thin skin is a nightmare waiting to happeṇ. Too many cops want their authority recognized by complete submission and a " good attitude " and see anyone who does not does not project complete subservience to be a nail needing a hammeṛ..ego trips that cause so many problemṣ. People who do not ahow proper " respect", which cops have no legal right to, are to be taught a lesson, usually ending with a violation of rightṣ.

    Most cops are only too eager to confront and escalate in order to win the ego game, and that is a shame. Cops do not have the right to order a cig put out until arrest; lawful orders concern only safety or custody, not because they hate the smell. Cops always want to be the alpha in any situation, and often go so far in doing so that they cause the issues that follow such challenges to peoples dignity. Any resistance to the presumed exalted authority cops crave is met with excessive force. This is the type of cop that shames the badge…an egotistical bully .ṁaybe legally justified in some ways but wrong for a public service job…did he serve and protect the woman or dominate her? We know the answer to that, don't we?

26. Peter — I would really love a post on the kind of numbers we are talking about regarding interactions between the public and the police on a daily basis. I get so sick of the fetishizing that goes on around video tapes of cops being dip shits that inevitably leads to unwarranted generalizations about cops as a whole. The media is doing serious harm to public perceptions about policing when there are 1000s upon 1000s of traffic stops everyday, many of which involving pissed of citizens like Sandra Bland, that are handled appropriately. This message needs to see the light of day.

27. Dustin, if you think this pig deserves anything less than criminal charges for provoking this woman than I wish that ied had killed you. Sic semper tyrannis.

28. The actions of the officer leaves me to believe the officer is a rookie. Some officers who have little experience on the street are "badge heavy." Police officers have a tremendous amount of authority and some rookie's look for situations wherein they feel their authority is being challenged. The officer asked her to put her cigarette out. She refused and in so doing, she challenged his authority and with this officer, you can't do that. Then he ordered her out of her car and again she refused. The traffic stop is now headed for disaster.
    BTW, someone wrote the officer stopped her because she is black. They may be right. At the start of the video, As he returns to his car, he glances at a car passing by on the opposite side of the street. Once in his car, he makes a U-turn and then speeds up until he is behind the same car and then makes a traffic stop.

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