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    FeatheryfiendAndy Cush
    7/16/15 4:12pm

    Pulled over for not using her blinker? AKA, driving while black?

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      Element12Featheryfiend
      7/16/15 4:15pm

      And pulled out of the car....Never had that happen for a turn signal unless it was SuperCop

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      whiplashhFeatheryfiend
      7/16/15 4:16pm

      I’m white and I’ve been pulled over for this twice. So funny how ppl act like white people don’t get fucked by the law.

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    LauraPalmer25Andy Cush
    7/16/15 4:13pm

    Welcome to America. Where cops are given the benefit of the doubt because they have a hard, stressful job, but the average civilian is required to act calm and composed while a gun is aimed at them. If the cop messes up, they are a hero doing their best; if a civilian messes up, THEY SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER.

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      Big PieceLauraPalmer25
      7/16/15 4:20pm

      You’re right, assaulting police that pull you over for a minor traffic citation is both intelligent and endearing. I’m all for transparency in policing but kicking the cops and blatant ignorance is a bridge too far. Any reasonable person can and should expect to be arrested for it. Let this tragic story play out before jumping all over people that, very well, could have had nothing to do with her death.

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      Arctic16LauraPalmer25
      7/16/15 4:24pm

      Truth.

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    NoButWait Hates Your GoT Fan TheoriesAndy Cush
    7/16/15 4:29pm

    From the Jezebel article:

    Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith, who made several statements to the press about her arrest, which he characterized as a result of Bland becoming “combative,” was fired from his previous post in 2007 for documented cases of racism. And here we go again.

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      skanteaNoButWait Hates Your GoT Fan Theories
      7/16/15 4:44pm

      In other words she treated him like he was being an asshole. How much you want to bet all security video of the area is missing for the period around her time of death?

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      TCB777777NoButWait Hates Your GoT Fan Theories
      7/16/15 4:47pm

      Oh shit, I missed that. That is fucked up.

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    TraceAndy Cush
    7/16/15 4:20pm

    Wait, what else could there have been in a cell someone could strangle themselves with if not for a blanket or shoelaces? Serious question. (pillow??? maybe???)

    I would be side eyeing this shit too. Does anyone know what the largest sentence she could get for disobeying? I can’t imagine it would be worth killing yourself over unless you were already suicidal or something.

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      CaiteeCruelleTrace
      7/16/15 4:22pm

      Sheets. Not that I think that’s what happened here.

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      TraceCaiteeCruelle
      7/16/15 4:28pm

      Oh, would sheets be separate from the blanket? I assumed it was all included in that, though it’s weird they didn’t just say ‘she did it with the sheets’ if she...did it with the sheets.

      Unless they were trying to cover their ass. (again, feel free to correct if I am wrong, I feel like I have just heard people being straight out when they announce things like this)

      I don’t know, I am with you, I don’t think this is the entire story. Usually when people do this they’re facing charges that will send them to jail for ages or bankrupt them into oblivion. I can’t see her charge being anything that terrible.

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    verapsAndy Cush
    7/16/15 4:17pm

    My guess would be someone put her in a choke hold for too long and then staged a suicide to cover it up. The same jail had another suspicious inmate suicide three years ago. The family will have a hell of a time proving that she was murdered, since the authorities can control the time-of-death narrative. I wish them justice.

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      OctoberSurpriseAndy Cush
      7/16/15 4:32pm

      Apparently there have been other questionable suicides at this jail, including a man who hung himself after being booked for assaulting an officer. Interestingly, the Sheriff overseeing this operation was previously suspended, then ultimately fired, from his position as chief of police over allegations of racism back in 07 or 08. He was later ELECTED to the role he has today.

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        DontBeSuchaBoobPunchTinaOctoberSurprise
        7/16/15 4:55pm

        Jesus.

        What recourse is there, should something happen to you, when the people you’re supposed to call for help are the worst criminals of all?

        And how the hell is this kind of thing still happening?

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      therealtr3Andy Cush
      7/16/15 4:15pm

      Why would someone kill themselves in a county jail, when they were probably getting out within 24 hours? Its not like she would even have ended up in prison for her charges. She’s educated so she probably knew that. This makes absolutely no sense .

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        Sprochetetherealtr3
        7/16/15 4:35pm

        The only thing that *might* make sense is that she might have had a brain injury when she was thrown to the ground. Of course, she recieved no medical attention, so unless something turns up in the autopsy, we’ll never know.

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        wpwtherealtr3
        7/16/15 4:36pm

        She was lynched. Let’s just say it already.

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      ThrumbolioAndy Cush
      7/16/15 4:16pm

      I suppose it isn’t a totally impossible outcome. Young lady about to start a new job and gets arrested, ends up in jail? Sometimes people overreact. Generally those who have some kind of history of mental illness, that is...which this lady didn’t seem to have.

      Yeah, this is fishy as fuck.

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        Grim3Thrumbolio
        7/16/15 4:51pm

        Definitely being a successful young woman doesn’t really have anything to do with her suicide risk, but generally I associate men with more of the impulsive suicide thing. And it isn’t an arrest for anything particularly shameful or devastating. She could have been at a very unstable place, but I’m definitely not taking their word for it.

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        skanteaThrumbolio
        7/16/15 5:05pm

        From the mugshot she was arrested without her wig/extensions. They probably thought she wasn’t the type to have a “respectable” family and background. I’m hoping the community opens up the pits of hell beneath the entire department.

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      SkillbillyAndy Cush
      7/16/15 4:15pm

      “The Texas Rangers, the investigative arm of the state’s Department of Public Safety...”

      Well there’s your problem. Why would you leave that up to the shittiest baseball team in the AL west?

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        ╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and BokeSkillbilly
        7/16/15 5:24pm

        Who better to pitch softballs during their investigation?

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        Skillbilly╰(　´◔　ω　◔ `)╯< Woke and Boke
        7/16/15 5:25pm

        Oh. That's much better than mine.

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      iusedtobesomeoneAndy Cush
      7/16/15 4:47pm

      I’ve told this story before, and I apologize if it’s been here and it seems repetitive. I don’t think I’ve told it in a while, and it’s germaine to the question of “DWB”.

      In 2002 I served a month on Grand Jury. Our fairly large County seats three GJ’s at a time. One is violent crime, one is drug crime, one is property crime. I was on the property crime GJ. Those testifying are almost always police officers, and you hear the same phrases over and over again. The one we kept hearing was “violating the 50 foot rule.”

      “I was driving on 82nd Ave when I observed a black Honda. I followed the black Honda for 3 blocks, when the driver violated the 50 foot rule. I flashed my lights and signalled for the driver to pull over...” Finally I asked one of them, “What is violating the 50 foot rule?” He said, “Failure to signal 50 feet before changing lanes.” Two or three of us said, “I do that all the time. You pull people over for that?” He pointed to the two inch thick onion skin paper double columned book of DOT Revised Statutes and said, “You see that book? There’s no way that drivers know every rule in that book, but I do. If I want to pull you over I will eventually catch you violating a code in that book. The 50 foot rule is just the one that most people will break first.”

      If you get pulled over for some minor infraction, it’s beause they were looking for a reason to pull you over. It’s not because of the minor infraction.

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        DontBeSuchaBoobPunchTinaiusedtobesomeone
        7/16/15 5:14pm

        Yeah, I got pulled over once for traveling in a turn-only lane. It wasn’t marked, and I genuinely didn’t realize that it was one. The officer was visibly surprised to encounter me (a polite, cheerful, middle-aged white woman), and, when I asked if I had made a mistake, simply informed me that it was a turn-only lane and I needed to be sure to use it for the purpose in future. He could’ve ticketed me, which I would have protested and probably won since the lane wasn’t marked, but he didn’t.

        I’m not sure what he was expecting to be inside the car, but it for sure wasn’t what he found. Anyway, to your point about them having another reason for little things like this, I think he pulled me over because my car was so dirty (I like to think it has a patina). That’s a little unusual here. Even though almost no one ever repairs minor damage, local culture dictates that they usually wash their cars a lot. So I think that raised a little internal flag for him, and then my appearance and demeanor lowered it again.

        Wonder how it might’ve gone if I’d been Mexican-American, the next-most-common demographic here. Not so well, most likely.

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