When I first saw it, something bothered me about the dashcam video from the car of the officer who stopped Sandra Bland. I have watched it a few times since then and believe it is a prime example of the kind of predatory policing encouraged in small towns that rely on traffic fines for revenue.
The officer's stop before her had been of a driver who had been speeding. The officer gave the driver a warning. I wasn't able to see enough of that encounter to know whether that driver had been commanded to exit their car or forced to the ground. I have the distinct impression that the driver is a local resident. After that driver left that scene the officer took a few seconds to get underway. Sandra Bland's car is seen approaching from a side street on the left and turning onto the street the officer was on, traveling in the opposite direction. There did not appear to be anything remarkable about this left turn, and the officer did not mention it after he stopped her. After she passed the officer traveling in the opposite direction, the officer made a U turn at the next intersection and gave chase.
As you watch it, you may wonder why the officer turn around and followed Bland's car, or why he tried to catch up to her so quickly. It can't be because he expected her to change lanes without signaling, at the time he turned around. The quality of the dashcam video does not give a clear impression of two key pieces of information which were readily available to the officer as he observed her pass him. First was the presence of out-of-state license plates on the vehicle. The second was the presence of an unaccompanied Black female driver. The blatant signs of easy prey for any small town cop.
The phrase 'gave chase' is quite apropos to the officer's approach to Bland's car. He closed the distance at a high rate of speed though apparently without lights and siren. He ended up tailgating her, something she noted when she explained why she moved out of his way. If I were a driving safety instructor, I might have complimented her on good defensive driving by noticing his approach and moving over to allow a police vehicle to pass which was in an obvious hurry to get somewhere. Police officers are often observed in large cities traveling at high speed without sirens and lights, and I, like most people, presume they are approaching an ongoing crime scene with as much stealth as they can manage in a marked vehicle. I would have also complimented her on the safest way to get a tailgating driver off your back.
Even if she had signaled her lane change, I think the officer would have used some other pretense to pull her over. But, I believe, he expected he could cause her to change lanes without signaling by approaching at high speed and tailgating. The situation quickly escalated because Ms. Bland turned out to be an uppity Northern Black woman who obviously felt preyed upon, refused to comply immediately to his commands and questioned him. That clearly insulted the officer's sense of authority and manhood. The rest was inevitable once he had his dander up. He should have called for backup and supervision as soon as he knew he was losing his temper.
I feel the video of this encounter should be used to train police officers on what not to do. I also think it should be used to train citizens and juries, and even prosecutors, about some of the telltale signs of predatory policing.