Response to 10 Things About the Sandra Brown Traffic Stop Every Texan Should Know

Link to original story: http://www.texasstandard.org/shows/current/10-things-about-the-sandra-bland-traffic-stop-every-texan-should-know/

I’ve had a couple of people comment about this incident. I rarely say something like this but I am really disappointed in how this traffic stop is being perceived, even after the video was posted by Texas DPS (edited as it was).

Here is my analysis, take it for what it is worth.

I have had multiple comments stating that the driver was disrespectful to the officer, and it was her fault that she was pulled over in the first place for breaking the law. Was her attitude the greatest? No. But was she disrespectful? I don’t believe so. She answered all the officer’s questions, even if he did not care for the answers. Was her attitude cause to turn a warning into a full-fledged arrest? No. Not in the least.

She stated she was frustrated for being pulled over for such a minor offense. If you’re one of the people that are saying it was her own fault for breaking the law, please take a moment and think about other situations with law enforcement. Have you ever said “go catch some real criminals” or “that officer is just harassing that person”? Well, she failed to signal a lane change after he pulled right up behind her. I would guess that if I was in that situation, I’d be pissed off too, for the same reasons that she was.

Please note: I’ve talked about the lack of reason for escalating the situation and Sandra’s frustration. I haven’t even talked about race yet.

The next problem stated by this article is the fact that she was likely profiled due to her out-of-state license plates. I say this hoping that race was not a factor, and I’ll assume it wasn’t. The reason that we get righteously indignant about profiling is that it violates our rights. Whether profiling happens because of race, religion, or just the fact that you haven’t changed your out-of state plates yet, it means that you fall under closer scrutiny by law enforcement for no reason that indicates you are guilty of a crime.

Profiling sometimes leads innocent people to perform acts that they would not normally do, including breaking the law. When the trooper pulled up on Sandra’s bumper, he may have caused her to do something she would not have ordinarily done — change lanes without signaling. This is the reason she was pulled over in the first place.

To recap, we have a law enforcement officer that likely profiled a vehicle, started tailing her, probably causing her to break the law. She was frustrated but not disrespectful, asserting her rights.

I’m still not talking about race.

At this point, the officer forces Sandra under duress (threat of violence (the taser in her face saying “I’ll light you up!”)) to exit the vehicle. When she does leave the car, she walks to an area not in view of the camera. My wife and I disagree on this, but I believe that Sandra walked exactly where the officer wanted her to, which is out of view of the dashcam that the officer knew was recording his actions. Only then did the confrontation get violent, and Sandra allegedly assaulted the officer.

Based on what I heard on the video, Sandra did not assault the officer in any way. There was nothing said by the officer that would indicate that she assaulted him or did anything more than express reluctance to the fact that she was being arrested for such a minor traffic offense, one that the officer likely caused in the first place.

The only assumption I can make based on the evidence shown on the footage is that the officer was not assaulted, he escalated the situation instead of de-escalating (which is his primary job as a peace officer), and Sandra Brown is now dead because he got his feathers ruffled. The officer may not have killed Sandra, but without his overreaction, she would not have been in jail, and she would probably be alive today.

A few days after being incarcerated, Sandra is found hanging from a noose in her cell by a jailer who was checking on her to see if she wanted recreation time. By all accounts, she was supposed to be released later that day and going to her new job.

This does not fit the profile of a suicidal person.

Granted, someone with a serious mental illness could do something along these lines that seems illogical. Nonetheless, Sandra had no prior evidence of such issues, and she was about to be released. Suicide is an ending to this story that makes absolutely no sense.

Please note that we’re still not talking about race. That is about to change.

If this was one incident, unrelated to nothing else, the issue of race would not come up. The officer did not do anything to indicate his actions were motivated by race. Because we cannot read minds, we will likely never know what he was thinking.

But this is not an unrelated incident.

According to Your Black World, this is one of three Black women who committed suicide while in police custody over the last couple of years. All three suicides were hotly contested by friends and family, saying that suicide did not make sense for any of these women.

These suicides, coupled with other incidents in recent memory, show a statistical pattern of Black men and women ending up dead when interacting with law enforcement. Michael Brown. Walter Scott. Sandra Brown. Kindra Chapman. Kimberlee Randall-King. This list is way too long, and too easy to compile. Real change needs to happen quickly. Lives are at stake.

Oh, and one more thing. I actually saw a comment where someone said that minority parents were encouraging their children to treat law enforcement in a disrepectful manner. I guess I do not know what everyone else’s experience is, but here is mine. Almost every Black family I’ve ever been close to has had the exact opposite. I have seen mothers and fathers go overboard telling their children to be respectful to officers and to do whatever they tell them.

Why is it necessary to tell children to follow orders and be respectful? Because Black parents know that an encounter with law enforcement that doesn’t go well ends up with a funeral. And quite frankly, they do not want to have to bury their child.

Maybe someday Black parents won’t have to go out of their way to teach their children these harsh lessons. But that day is not today.