Sandra Bland Dashboard Video Released

[Fern]

Texas is a state that I have yet to be arrested in, however in some places bail options can be limited during weekends. Bail bondsmen are typical available over the weekend but you're going to pay them 10-20% of the bail amount. And you need to pay them this amount upfront. That may not have been possible in her case.

Maybe I've misunderstood the situation, but I thought she allegedly died while in jail (allegedly committing suicide). Accordingly, all this discussion about being pulled over etc seems mostly irrelevant. She didn't die in the back of the cruiser.

Fern

 

[Fern]

Don't you still need collateral for a bond?

My experience is:

1. Bail bondsmen - you pay them the 10-20% of the bail amount upfront (if they'll take your business). No collateral needed.

2. The court system will release you upon sufficient collateral. E.g., they'll hold the title to your house as bail (assuming you have sufficient equity). But you'll need somebody 'on the outside' to get this done for you. It must also be done during regular business hrs (not on the weekend).

3. Released on her own recognizance ("ROR"). However in my experience this must granted by a judge and, here again, is unavailable until normal court hours (and when they'll fit you into the court's schedule). In some places they'll have a court magistrate that works late nights and weekends to facilitate this. This is something they started here where I live, but I think that's because our jail is too overcrowded. (This woman would have never been put in jail here. There's just not enough space to jail someone for this.)

Fern

 

[HumblePie]

Texas is a state that I have yet to be arrested in, however in some places bail options can be limited during weekends. Bail bondsmen are typical available over the weekend but you're going to pay them 10-20% of the bail amount. And you need to pay them this amount upfront. That may not have been possible in her case.

Maybe I've misunderstood the situation, but I thought she allegedly died while in jail (allegedly committing suicide). Accordingly, all this discussion about being pulled over etc seems mostly irrelevant. She didn't die in the back of the cruiser.

Fern

I was mentioning the collateral because she was from out of state moving there or something like that I thought. Which means she had no one on the outside to get a bail bondsman like that for her. But I thought some bondsmen hover around the jails for this purpose and take car collaterals from inmates.

 

[Svnla]

She could have been out in a matter of hours, all it took was for someone to post her bail.

I've heard some claim she couldn't have been bailed out over the weekend, bail bondsmen operate 24/7/365 in the state of Texas. Most people post bail in a few hours.

I raised similar question a few days ago = http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37590816&postcount=461

All she needed was $500 and she would be out but for some reasons, she was unable to come up with it from herself, friends, family members for not one, not two, but three days.

Possum did make a good point = http://forums.anandtech.com/showpost.php?p=37592159&postcount=485

Earlier in the thread, another poster posted a bunch of law violations this women got herself into lately and I think Possum did have a good point.

 

[Fern]

I was mentioning the collateral because she was from out of state moving there or something like that I thought. Which means she had no one on the outside to get a bail bondsman like that for her. But I thought some bondsmen hover around the jails for this purpose and take car collaterals from inmates.

If she was from out-of-state and just moving there I suspect that was a big problem.

I've known some bail bondsmen and if you're from out of town (i.e., no local residence an job) you're likely not getting bail from them. They had no interest in looking for you if you failed to show. How do you easily find someone who's fled and is really from out of town?

I suppose some bail bondsmen will take a car as collateral, but I doubt whether it's quick, easy and doable if your jail.

You're from TX so you'd know their laws better than I, but here's what I came up with in NC as far as the requirements:

Once you are approved for a title loan, you will have to provide us with a few documents, which we will make copies of for our records. They include:

Your government-issued ID, like a driver's license or passport
Proof of employment, like a paystub
Proof of residence, like a gas or water bill or your lease
Proof of car insurance
2 references. We may call your references to confirm your identity, but will never reveal that you are applying for a loan. Your privacy is important to us.

When You Pick Up Your Cash Loan on Your Vehicle

When you come to one of our convenient locations to pick up your cash, you will need to bring two things:

The title to your vehicle
A spare set of keys

I don't see that as feasible solution, much less one that can be accomplished on a weekend etc.

As far as bail bondsmen "hovering" around jails - yeah they do. Jails around here have a bulletin board with bail bondsmen advertisements/cards/contact info. The police will allow you a call to contact one. My guess is given her situation (from out-of-town, possibly not yet employed, likely didn't have her car title handy in her back pocket) they weren't willing to help.

Fern

 

[Perknose]

(This woman would have never been put in jail here. There's just not enough space to jail someone for this.)

Fern

 

[NoStateofMind]

Just saw an article making the claim that anonymous leaked info about the sheriffs dept. and I don't think this is the way to solve this problem. We need to have a real discussion about how law enforcement is used and in what situations force must be used or otherwise confrontations like this will continue. It's human nature at work here and you can't change that. Violence and threats from either point of view will cause nothing but bloodshed. This I fear the most, and will do my utmost to help society change, as infinitesimal as my attempts may be, through these words and ideas. Steady your emotion and think this through is all I ask.

 

[davmat787]

She could have been out in a matter of hours, all it took was for someone to post her bail.

I've heard some claim she couldn't have been bailed out over the weekend, bail bondsmen operate 24/7/365 in the state of Texas. Most people post bail in a few hours.

First a judge has to set the bail in order for someone to post bond iirc. So intake on Friday evening might preclude a judge from setting bail until Monday morning.

Maybe Texas is different and low level offenses have bail set automatically without a judge being involved. But many judges are golfing for martinis by noon Fridays so many smaller municipalities have people sitting in jail all weekend just to have a judge set bail.

 

[HumblePie]

If she was from out-of-state and just moving there I suspect that was a big problem.

I've known some bail bondsmen and if you're from out of town (i.e., no local residence an job) you're likely not getting bail from them. They had no interest in looking for you if you failed to show. How do you easily find someone who's fled and is really from out of town?

I suppose some bail bondsmen will take a car as collateral, but I doubt whether it's quick, easy and doable if your jail.

You're from TX so you'd know their laws better than I, but here's what I came up with in NC as far as the requirements:



I don't see that as feasible solution, much less one that can be accomplished on a weekend etc.

As far as bail bondsmen "hovering" around jails - yeah they do. Jails around here have a bulletin board with bail bondsmen advertisements/cards/contact info. The police will allow you a call to contact one. My guess is given her situation (from out-of-town, possibly not yet employed, likely didn't have her car title handy in her back pocket) they weren't willing to help.

Fern

You're not arguing against me since that is what I was saying. Londo was saying he was surprised she couldn't get bail in a matter of hours and while most here can even on a Friday evening, they need hard collateral to do so like a car, which I don't she could have done. Unless she had some expensive jewelry on her maybe. Meaning she would have a hard time posting bail even in Texas which makes it pretty easy to do so actually in the bigger cities.

 

[BoberFett]

I fail to see how the inability to get bailed out has ANY relevance here.

 

[Londo_Jowo]

First a judge has to set the bail in order for someone to post bond iirc. So intake on Friday evening might preclude a judge from setting bail until Monday morning.

Maybe Texas is different and low level offenses have bail set automatically without a judge being involved. But many judges are golfing for martinis by noon Fridays so many smaller municipalities have people sitting in jail all weekend just to have a judge set bail.

Guess you have been paying attention as bail was already set at $5,000, she/her family/friends needed to post a $500 bond to secure her release. She could have been out in a couple of hours after the bond was met.

Heard on the morning news that her family will be filing a federal law suit against Officer Encinia and several others at 9:00am CDT.

 

[GarfieldtheCat]

I fail to see how the inability to get bailed out has ANY relevance here.

Victim blaming...it's a very common tactic used by people when they don't have anything of relevance to argue against. See also "slut shaming".

Not that it is at all correct to do this, but people that do this really don't care about right and wrong. It's all about defending one's team.

 

[waggy]

who cares about bond? and what does it really have to do with it?

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I fail to see how the inability to get bailed out has ANY relevance here.

It's just as relevant as blaming an officer for hanging yourself in a cell?

Here it's relevance? She hanged herself 3 days later after being jailed. She could have been bailed out on Day 1 and be alive today.

How is that not relevant?

 

[cabri]

who cares about bond? and what does it really have to do with it?

Had she bonded out, she would not have been able to hang herself in jail.

For some reason her family/friend either did not support her or she felt that they would not.

Lack of support probably contributed to her actions - despair.

There should be records of attempted contact

 

[Londo_Jowo]

Local news is reporting that the law suit the family is filing is a "Wrongful Death" suit against the Officer Encinia. I somehow think the fact she committed suicide will negate this suit.

http://abc13.com/news/sandra-blands-family-to-file-federal-lawsuit-today/901622/

 

[PokerGuy]

Heard on the morning news that her family will be filing a federal law suit against Officer Encinia and several others at 9:00am CDT.

Shameless attempt to cash in on the publicity and the death of a troubled woman. Shocking, I tell you, shocking!!

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Local news is reporting that the law suit the family is filing is a "Wrongful Death" suit against the Officer Encinia. I somehow think the fact she committed suicide will negate this suit.

http://abc13.com/news/sandra-blands-family-to-file-federal-lawsuit-today/901622/

Negate the suit? As much as death isn't a laughing matter, I hope any court that see's something that stupid laughs in their face. How can you be that retarded?

Edit: It would be one thing to do negligence on the cell guard's for not noticing her trying to hang herself, but the officer that arrested her? You must be trollin'

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

Local news is reporting that the law suit the family is filing is a "Wrongful Death" suit against the Officer Encinia. I somehow think the fact she committed suicide will negate this suit.

http://abc13.com/news/sandra-blands-family-to-file-federal-lawsuit-today/901622/

Yeah, I don't see a wrongful death suit going anywhere.

I don't know about Texas, but in Minnesota and most other states, her death would extinguish any right on the part of her family to recover, on her behalf, for her pain and suffering prior to her death (under the theory that she should never have been arrested and forced to spend days in jail, a theory I think is potentially viable based on the video). Assuming Texas law follows this rule, there would be no viable claim against Officer Encinia, other than under the rather attenuated theory that he was responsible for her death since he arrested her in the first place.

Bland's death appears, fairly conclusively, to have been suicide. There might be a viable theory of liability on the part of the jail, for failure to adequately monitor her despite her having reported that she felt depressed and had attempted suicide in the past. I don't know all the facts there, but as I understand it the jail was checking in on her every two hours and she had said she was fine less than two hours prior to her suicide. I haven't worked on a case like that, but my guess is that the case law would say that the jail's measures were adequate and that the defense would be entitled to qualified immunity. In general the prisoner's rights case law requires fairly shocking conduct on the part of the jail to give rise to a viable claim.

All of this ignores the context, of course. If (and I have no idea if this is true), the jurisdiction has a history of similar problems, they might settle rather than risking getting hammered at trial. I wouldn't expect a large settlement - in Minnesota I'd expect a case like this to settle for less than six figures - but one never knows.

 

[HumblePie]

^^ Agreed DVC. Don't think anything is going to come out of that suit, unless it's just a probing threat of a suit to see reactions on what they could get away with.

 

[Caravaggio]

I fail to see how the inability to get bailed out has ANY relevance here.

I fail to see how you fail to see that the absurdity of her unjust and demeaning incarceration, for changing lanes without signalling, (for God's sake!) lead to her suicidal despair after Encinia threatened to "yank her out" of her car and threatened to "light her up" with a taser. Are you real?

The glaringly obvious reason she did not want to get out of the safety of her own vehicle is that she knew she would be chained-up if she did.

He pulled her out, ....and she was duly chained-up. Just as she feared.

She defended her innocence, she demanded to know why she was being picked on.
He said that anything he demanded was a "lawful order". He will soon discover that cops don't make the law that way.
He could not answer that simple question. He escalated this case to a gross injustice for the most trivial of reasons. He knew he had to win. In a sense he won the battle but lost the war.

Another sadistic 'bully cop', how many of them have we had this year?

She was thrown to the ground, you can hear the ratchet clicks as he squeezes the handcuffs tighter behind her. (Listen to the sound on the video). She protests, just as you would.


She is dead, his sorry, sadistic, career progression is probably now limited.

If your sight has failed I feel deeply sorry for you.

 

[cabri]

I fail to see how you fail to see that the absurdity of her unjust and demeaning incarceration, for changing lanes without signalling, (for God's sake!) lead to her suicidal despair after Encinia threatened to "yank her out" of her car and threatened to "light her up" with a taser. Are you real?

The glaringly obvious reason she did not want to get out of the safety of her own vehicle is that she knew she would be chained-up if she did.

He pulled her out, ....and she was duly chained-up. Just as she feared.

She defended her innocence, she demanded to know why she was being picked on.
He said that anything he demanded was a "lawful order". He will soon discover that cops don't make the law that way.
He could not answer that simple question. He escalated this case to a gross injustice for the most trivial of reasons. He knew he had to win. In a sense he won the battle but lost the war.

Another sadistic 'bully cop', how many of them have we had this year?

She was thrown to the ground, you can hear the ratchet clicks as he squeezes the handcuffs tighter behind her. (Listen to the sound on the video). She protests, just as you would.


She is dead, his sorry, sadistic, career progression is probably now limited.

If your sight has failed I feel deeply sorry for you.

Her ATTITUDE is what did her in; observable from her second sentence

 

[Caravaggio]

Her ATTITUDE is what did her in; observable from her second sentence

I disagree. That implies that a black woman has no right to question a white cop.
I have already agreed with others that it might be unwise, given what we know about the current 'head-space' of the average white cop, but it is hardly contrary to law.
A law-enforcer should at least be conversant with the law he claims to be enforcing.
Encinia was inventing the 'law' as he saw fit. He clearly saw himself as a law MAKER. He is not. He saw a stroppy woman and he wanted to break her. He succeeded utterly.
He will be found to have been in error.

Black women, anyone, might reasonably ask why a police officer wishes to "light them up" with a taser.

 

[HomerJS]

I disagree. That implies that a black woman has no right to question a white cop.
I have already agreed with others that it might be unwise, given what we know about the current 'head-space' of the average white cop, but it is hardly contrary to law.
A law-enforcer should at least be conversant with the law he claims to be enforcing.
Encinia was inventing the 'law' as he saw fit. He clearly saw himself as a law MAKER. He is not. He saw a stroppy woman and he wanted to break her. He succeeded utterly.
He will be found to have been in error.

Black women, anyone, might reasonably ask why a police officer wishes to "light them up" with a taser.

To a lot of people in this forum she doesn't. Remember she was acting "uppity"

 

[Caravaggio]

To a lot of people in this forum she doesn't. Remember she was acting "uppity"

"Uppity". What a wonderful word. Packed full of historical baggage. You are right, of course.
She found herself in Texas, a very bad place for an "uppity n*****".
200 years ago, on the ol' plantation, she would have been forced to wear a steel face mask to limit her power of protest. Once broken, she would be expected passively to service the boss-man in any way he chose. Like 'founding father' Jefferson took his favourite slave girls whenever he wanted to make other little slaves.

When I was pulled for speeding in Arizona as a tourist a few years back (over 90 mph, no idea what the limit is there?) I stopped and got out of the car, as is usual in the UK. The cop told me to get back in! This contrast with Sandra's capture makes me think that there is no consistency in cop behaviour. They merely exert control by making you do as you are told. If out, get in, if in, get out. "Just do as I f***ing say".

Perhaps the good citizens of Prairie View, Texas, will reflect on the attitude of Officer (I use the term loosely) Encinia and wonder whether they wish to be represented by a cop who in his own words "yanks women out of their cars" and threatens to "taser them" at point blank range.

But hey, what's another dead "uppity ******" in the scheme of things to the great Lone Star state?