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Nothing about this adds up. The video is flawed during both the arrest and around the time of death. Given her activities, saying this warrants further investig

by fixxer 11y ago

Nothing about this adds up. The video is flawed during both the arrest and around the time of death. Given her activities, saying this warrants further investigation is a gross understatement. The willingness of police to label death a suicide never ceases to amaze me. I was on the beach down in Florida a few years ago and found a dead girl with her hands tied. Cops showed up and immediately assumed suicide. Turns out she had drug issues and had a history to support the assumption, but no reasonable person would approach a situation like that with such strong priors. I'm not saying every crime scene is out of a Hollywood movie with a serial killer lurking in the shadows, but I would have really liked to see zero prior beliefs at that point. I'd sleep better knowing the people out there in charge of "serving and protecting" the general public viewed their occupation as a search for truth rather than some perverse version of The Office with guns.

emodendroket 11y ago
Shows like CSI give the impression of infallible police with perfect tools to solve crimes but that obviously just is not the case. More than half of murders go unsolved (and that doesn't count the ones nobody realizes are murders) and we're seeing lots of evidence that innocent people end up being punished for them often enough.
- vinay427 11y ago
  Based on experience from watching The Wire, I would venture a guess that this is due to politicized statistics such as clearance rates that departments must meet for funding.
jessaustin 11y ago
...some perverse version of The Office with guns. Some days, every profession is "some perverse version of The Office with X". I don't mean to excuse LEOs, but rather to point out that the expectation that they're somehow different from the rest of us, is one of society's problems.
- indlebe 11y ago
  I think there's the expectation that they should view their jobs more seriously than that of, let's say, a porn director or toy designer. They are different from the rest of us, in the same way that those who are border patrol officers, paramedics and military officers are. Not only does your job greatly influence your persona but you should be expected to take your job more seriously depending on the subject matter you're dealing with.
  - escape_goat 11y ago
    I think his point was that the fact that we rely on such an expectation (in the face of constant evidence that it is insufficient) is one of society's problems. I think that, in general, people do feel an obligation to meet (what they see as) the societal expectations of (what they see as) their role. But from a statistical perspective, relying on individual people to do so as a mechanism to ensure compliance with the role is foolish. We do not send airplanes into the skies comfortably secure in the knowledge that airline pilots take their responsibilities very seriously. (Which they do, I am sure.) We do not do that because the airline industry cannot survive a failure rate of 'everyone tries hard'. Instead, there are checklists, redundant safety mechanisms, and the like, all of which greatly improve the airline success rate.
- dsmithatx 11y ago
  I guess you don't believe that with great power comes great responsibility. It seems to me that line of thinking that having control over other peoples lives doesn't require responsibility. That is the real problem here. Judges, police, politicians all are very different from those of us not giving the power over others lives. You should expect them to behave accordingly or expect that they be locked away in prison or executed. Just like they do to other people often times wrongfully.
  - jessaustin 11y ago
    With great power comes great injustice. This is a fact of human existence. All the bullshit about "responsibility" is just window-dressing for the arbitrary domination of human beings. "Control over other people's lives" is the problem. Occasionally those who obtain that control use it only in benign fashion, but such conduct is exceptional.
powertower 11y ago
What doesn't add up about the video? She was argumentative from the very beginning, refused to follow an order to get out the vehicle (right or wrong, you have to if stopped in a traffic violation in Texas), and then escalates the situation to the end with physical and verbal combative behavior. And the story is that because the shitty quality video long after the main event happens has a few frames messed-up - which more than likely originates from technical issues - that this proves that there is something being covered up.
- valar_m 11y ago
  Wrong. The video was clearly edited: http://bennorton.com/dashcam-video-of-violent-arrest-of-sandra-bland-was-edited/ http://bennorton.com/dashcam-video-of-violent-arrest-of-sand...
  - rarrarrarr 11y ago
    Relink in case that goes down: https://medium.com/@BenjaminNorton/dashcam-video-of-violent-arrest-of-sandra-bland-was-edited-57e04744839 https://medium.com/@BenjaminNorton/dashcam-video-of-violent-...
  - Pinckney 11y ago
    I watched the video too. If someone edited the video, why did they choose to make their cuts at times where cars or people are in scene? They would have gone unnoticed had they occurred a few seconds earlier. Who would be so stupid?
    - valar_m 11y ago
      I suspect it's something akin to risking a tampering with evidence charge by hiding a body.
      - Pinckney 11y ago
        I'm not asking why they might want to tamper with evidence. The motive for doing so is obvious. I'm asking why, if they did decide to tamper with evidence, did they do such a bad job of it? If they were already editing the video, why didn't they make their edits at times where they wouldn't be obvious?

by fixxer 11y ago

emodendroket 11y ago

Shows like CSI give the impression of infallible police with perfect tools to solve crimes but that obviously just is not the case. More than half of murders go unsolved (and that doesn't count the ones nobody realizes are murders) and we're seeing lots of evidence that innocent people end up being punished for them often enough.

vinay427 11y ago
Based on experience from watching The Wire, I would venture a guess that this is due to politicized statistics such as clearance rates that departments must meet for funding.

jessaustin 11y ago

...some perverse version of The Office with guns. Some days, every profession is "some perverse version of The Office with X". I don't mean to excuse LEOs, but rather to point out that the expectation that they're somehow different from the rest of us, is one of society's problems.

indlebe 11y ago
I think there's the expectation that they should view their jobs more seriously than that of, let's say, a porn director or toy designer. They are different from the rest of us, in the same way that those who are border patrol officers, paramedics and military officers are. Not only does your job greatly influence your persona but you should be expected to take your job more seriously depending on the subject matter you're dealing with.
- escape_goat 11y ago
  I think his point was that the fact that we rely on such an expectation (in the face of constant evidence that it is insufficient) is one of society's problems. I think that, in general, people do feel an obligation to meet (what they see as) the societal expectations of (what they see as) their role. But from a statistical perspective, relying on individual people to do so as a mechanism to ensure compliance with the role is foolish. We do not send airplanes into the skies comfortably secure in the knowledge that airline pilots take their responsibilities very seriously. (Which they do, I am sure.) We do not do that because the airline industry cannot survive a failure rate of 'everyone tries hard'. Instead, there are checklists, redundant safety mechanisms, and the like, all of which greatly improve the airline success rate.
dsmithatx 11y ago
I guess you don't believe that with great power comes great responsibility. It seems to me that line of thinking that having control over other peoples lives doesn't require responsibility. That is the real problem here. Judges, police, politicians all are very different from those of us not giving the power over others lives. You should expect them to behave accordingly or expect that they be locked away in prison or executed. Just like they do to other people often times wrongfully.
- jessaustin 11y ago
  With great power comes great injustice. This is a fact of human existence. All the bullshit about "responsibility" is just window-dressing for the arbitrary domination of human beings. "Control over other people's lives" is the problem. Occasionally those who obtain that control use it only in benign fashion, but such conduct is exceptional.

powertower 11y ago

What doesn't add up about the video? She was argumentative from the very beginning, refused to follow an order to get out the vehicle (right or wrong, you have to if stopped in a traffic violation in Texas), and then escalates the situation to the end with physical and verbal combative behavior. And the story is that because the shitty quality video long after the main event happens has a few frames messed-up - which more than likely originates from technical issues - that this proves that there is something being covered up.

valar_m 11y ago
Wrong. The video was clearly edited: http://bennorton.com/dashcam-video-of-violent-arrest-of-sandra-bland-was-edited/ http://bennorton.com/dashcam-video-of-violent-arrest-of-sand...
- rarrarrarr 11y ago
  Relink in case that goes down: https://medium.com/@BenjaminNorton/dashcam-video-of-violent-arrest-of-sandra-bland-was-edited-57e04744839 https://medium.com/@BenjaminNorton/dashcam-video-of-violent-...
- Pinckney 11y ago
  I watched the video too. If someone edited the video, why did they choose to make their cuts at times where cars or people are in scene? They would have gone unnoticed had they occurred a few seconds earlier. Who would be so stupid?
  - valar_m 11y ago
    I suspect it's something akin to risking a tampering with evidence charge by hiding a body.
    - Pinckney 11y ago
      I'm not asking why they might want to tamper with evidence. The motive for doing so is obvious. I'm asking why, if they did decide to tamper with evidence, did they do such a bad job of it? If they were already editing the video, why didn't they make their edits at times where they wouldn't be obvious?