Thursday, July 23, 2015

WHAT PART DID MARIJANA PLAY IN THE SANDRA BLAND CASE?

The autopsy showed that Sandra Bland’s death in the Waller County jail was consistent with suicide and that she had high levels of marijuana in her system

The family of Sandra Bland believes she was killed while in the custody of the Waller County, Texas Sheriff’s Department. The media pounced on the story as another example of how black people are being victimized by white racist cops. As a result protests have been held in several parts of the country.

A Texas state trooper stopped Bland July 10 near Prairie View, Texas for changing lanes without signaling. After the simple traffic stop escalated into an altercation, Bland was booked into the Waller County jail on a charge of assaulting an officer, a felony. On July 13 jailers found her dead, hanging in her cell with a plastic trash bag around her neck

An autopsy performed by the Harris County medical examiner’s office in Houston found that Bland’s death was consistent with suicide. Bland's eyelids, eyeballs and overall face showed no evidence of a struggle, but a bruise on Bland's neck was consistent with suicide. Absent was any hemorrhaging in the neck and trachea area, which would have occurred had there been a violent struggle.

The autopsy also found high levels of marijuana in Bland’s system.

If there is any problem with this case, it is in how the state trooper handled a simple traffic stop. He should have never let the stop escalate into a physical altercation.

Now I wonder what part did marijuana play in this case? President Obama and the proponents of pot insist marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. Yeah, right.

4 comments:

bob walsh said...

I saw a really good analysis of this last night from the Sheriff of Milwaukee County on Fox News. He said he went over the dashcam tape repeatedly and counted 49 lawful orders and directions given by the officer to the driver. The woman just flat-out refused to go along with the program. It takes two people to get along, it only takes one being a dick to turn the situation south. I think maybe you are selling the cop short on this one.

BarkGrowlBite said...

Bob, in this case I do not believe I'm selling the state trooper short. The best way to handle an illegal lane change is to stop the violator, get his driver's license, check to see if the car is stolen or if there are any outstanding arrest warrants against the driver, and if not, write the driver a ticket and both can get on their way.

Big deal if the driver gives a cop a bunch of lip.

Anonymous said...

As soon as a lawful order is refused and not just a little back talk, she should have been arrested. Once an officer says, "Your under arrest." that is a non negotiable order. I'm sure the fact that she wasn't a Texas resident also played into the equation of arrest. Out of state folks sometimes don't pay their tickets.

It is a big deal if someone gives a cop a bunch of lip during a legal detention!

That's why cops are being hurt and that's why people quit applying for the job.

BarkGrowlBite said...

Come on Anon, admit that the trooper did a poor job. Even DPS announced that he violated department policy during the stop.

So what if an out of state driver does not pay a ticket. Big deal! There are plenty of local drivers who do not pay their tickets.

Like many other drivers, Bland was irritated, if not pissed off, for getting stopped. What reason did the trooper have for ordering her to put out her cigarette? Oh, of course, he was just trying to keep her from getting cancer.

This is a simple case of a pissed off driver pissing off a cop. And that’s why the traffic stop escalated into an avoidable physical altercation.

There was no need for the trooper to give the orders he gave Bland.