This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/jul/28/sandra-bland-release-more-jail-footage-texas
The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 3 | Version 4 |
|---|---|
| More Sandra Bland jail footage released by Texas authorities | More Sandra Bland jail footage released by Texas authorities |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| More jail footage from the last days of Sandra Bland’s life was released on Tuesday as Texas officials sought to dispel theories that she was killed by police before arriving at the Waller County jail. | More jail footage from the last days of Sandra Bland’s life was released on Tuesday as Texas officials sought to dispel theories that she was killed by police before arriving at the Waller County jail. |
| The videos are taken by multiple cameras over several days. At various points, Bland arrives in the booking hall, enters a bathroom to change into an orange jumpsuit, answers screening questions, is taken to a holding cell, has her mugshots taken and makes phone calls. | The videos are taken by multiple cameras over several days. At various points, Bland arrives in the booking hall, enters a bathroom to change into an orange jumpsuit, answers screening questions, is taken to a holding cell, has her mugshots taken and makes phone calls. |
| Related: Sandra Bland: suspicion and mistrust flourish amid official inconsistencies | Related: Sandra Bland: suspicion and mistrust flourish amid official inconsistencies |
| Trey Duhon, the county judge, said in a news conference that Bland is visible in more than seven hours of footage taken over three days, from the time she arrived at the jail on the afternoon of 10 July following her arrest for alleged assault of an officer to the moments when she was found dead in cell 95 on the morning of 13 July. | Trey Duhon, the county judge, said in a news conference that Bland is visible in more than seven hours of footage taken over three days, from the time she arrived at the jail on the afternoon of 10 July following her arrest for alleged assault of an officer to the moments when she was found dead in cell 95 on the morning of 13 July. |
| There is no footage that gives a view of the inside of that cell, officials said. Duhon spent about an hour on Tuesday describing sections of the footage and said he hopes its release will dispel “very crazy speculation” that has arisen since Bland’s death. Since her family expressed doubt about the official version – that she hanged herself in her cell using a plastic trash bag – conspiracy theories have proliferated on social media, including a suggestion that she was already dead when her mugshot was taken. | There is no footage that gives a view of the inside of that cell, officials said. Duhon spent about an hour on Tuesday describing sections of the footage and said he hopes its release will dispel “very crazy speculation” that has arisen since Bland’s death. Since her family expressed doubt about the official version – that she hanged herself in her cell using a plastic trash bag – conspiracy theories have proliferated on social media, including a suggestion that she was already dead when her mugshot was taken. |
| “Sandra Bland was alive and well during her time in the Waller County jail up until her death Monday morning,” Duhon said. | “Sandra Bland was alive and well during her time in the Waller County jail up until her death Monday morning,” Duhon said. |
| Related: It's not a ‘white thing’: the mythology of suicide in black American lives | |
| Officials also released jail records showing she asked for an over-the-counter painkiller, but seemingly not a drug to treat the epilepsy she mentioned on a form that was filled out when she arrived. | Officials also released jail records showing she asked for an over-the-counter painkiller, but seemingly not a drug to treat the epilepsy she mentioned on a form that was filled out when she arrived. |
| Earlier videos from Bland’s final days were received with scepticism in some quarters. | Earlier videos from Bland’s final days were received with scepticism in some quarters. |
| Officials released three hours of inconclusive footage from the jail last week, with some minutes missing because the camera only records when there is motion, Duhon said. | Officials released three hours of inconclusive footage from the jail last week, with some minutes missing because the camera only records when there is motion, Duhon said. |
| Last week they also released audio and video taken from a dashcam of the trooper who arrested Bland after a routine traffic stop turned into a physical altercation. The Texas department of public safety was forced to issue a new version a day later after glitches fed scepticism about whether the footage was edited. | Last week they also released audio and video taken from a dashcam of the trooper who arrested Bland after a routine traffic stop turned into a physical altercation. The Texas department of public safety was forced to issue a new version a day later after glitches fed scepticism about whether the footage was edited. |
| “This video has not been altered or doctored in any way, these are the raw files,” Duhon said on Tuesday. “We’re doing this because we’ve received death threats, we’ve received threats against our facilities … our phones were locked up pretty much with people calling from across the country.” | “This video has not been altered or doctored in any way, these are the raw files,” Duhon said on Tuesday. “We’re doing this because we’ve received death threats, we’ve received threats against our facilities … our phones were locked up pretty much with people calling from across the country.” |
| He said that technical difficulties meant they were not able to release the footage sooner. | He said that technical difficulties meant they were not able to release the footage sooner. |
| In Tuesday’s videos, Bland is seen walking into the intake room, where she is asked screening questions. She sits, looking at her wrists as an officer fills out a booking form. She rocks back and forward and rubs her palms together. She had complained during her arrest that the trooper, Brian Encinia, hurt her wrists and slammed her to the ground. Encinia has been placed on desk duty for protocol violations. | In Tuesday’s videos, Bland is seen walking into the intake room, where she is asked screening questions. She sits, looking at her wrists as an officer fills out a booking form. She rocks back and forward and rubs her palms together. She had complained during her arrest that the trooper, Brian Encinia, hurt her wrists and slammed her to the ground. Encinia has been placed on desk duty for protocol violations. |
| The videos then show Bland in the booking area. She is taken to the bathroom, where she changes out of her street clothes into an orange jumpsuit. The 28-year-old appears calm and moves slowly and deliberately throughout the footage but looks frustrated as she collects her bedding and heads to a holding cell. | The videos then show Bland in the booking area. She is taken to the bathroom, where she changes out of her street clothes into an orange jumpsuit. The 28-year-old appears calm and moves slowly and deliberately throughout the footage but looks frustrated as she collects her bedding and heads to a holding cell. |
| Later her mugshots are taken against a wall. She then goes to an adjacent desk and makes a phone call, at times tapping on the desk. Duhon said it was after 10pm on Friday, and the video shows a seven-minute call apparently made to LaVaughn Mosley, a friend. Bland had left her luggage at his house and was planning to stay with him as she had just moved from Chicago to Texas for a new job at a local university. | |
| Mosley said that during the phone call Bland told him that she was in jail and was waiting to see the judge the next day. “She said her face was swollen, her lip was busted. She was angry,” he told the Guardian. “She was planning on suing that officer. She was looking forward to her day in court.” | |
| He said that when she called him again twice the next day he missed the calls, and said it was strange that she apparently did not try to call him on Sunday. “Why is that? She was trying to get out,” he said. But by Monday, Mosley said, he and friends had raised $300 toward her bail. When he called the jail that day, he said, he was told that she was no longer there. | |
| Other segments show her being fingerprinted and taking a second mental health questionnaire hours later. Bland is seen taking her bedding into a holding cell. She sits on the floor with her back to the wall and her hands on her knees. She was in the cell for about four and a half hours before processing, Duhon said. | Other segments show her being fingerprinted and taking a second mental health questionnaire hours later. Bland is seen taking her bedding into a holding cell. She sits on the floor with her back to the wall and her hands on her knees. She was in the cell for about four and a half hours before processing, Duhon said. |
| On Saturday, Bland is pictured sitting at a bench in the booking office waiting for a local judge. When the judge arrives to read the charges, explain her rights and set bond, Bland stands with her hands clasped in front of her. Her bail amount was set at $500 – 10% of the $5,000 bond. | On Saturday, Bland is pictured sitting at a bench in the booking office waiting for a local judge. When the judge arrives to read the charges, explain her rights and set bond, Bland stands with her hands clasped in front of her. Her bail amount was set at $500 – 10% of the $5,000 bond. |
| At another point, Duhon said that Bland spent about 22 minutes making as many as six phone calls from the desk phone. He said that it was common to let inmates use that phone as it was easier to use than the phones in cells, which require a pin number and make reverse-charge calls. | At another point, Duhon said that Bland spent about 22 minutes making as many as six phone calls from the desk phone. He said that it was common to let inmates use that phone as it was easier to use than the phones in cells, which require a pin number and make reverse-charge calls. |
| “I truly wish she would have bonded out,” he said. | “I truly wish she would have bonded out,” he said. |