We’re going to file this one under “Tell Us Something We Don’t Know.” According to Steve McCraw, the director of the Texas Department of Public Safety, the Texas trooper who stopped Sandra Bland in July of 2015, Brian Encinia, not only violated DPS protocol but allowed his interaction with Bland to “escalate quickly.” Speaking with the editor of the Texas Tribune, Evan Smith, McCraw said that the onus is “always on the trooper” when directly asked if Sandra Bland was at fault for what happened.
“We’re accountable for every stop. And the citizen has a right to be objectionable – they can be rude. They can do a lot of things. They can say things, they can do things, and at the end of the day, we have an obligation not to react and be pulled into that. We’ve got to be professional, above that,” said McCraw.
McCraw made the comments to Smith on Tuesday, January 19, during an interview that was live-streamed on the newspaper’s website. You can view the video of the interview below the fold.
After more than a year of unnecessary deaths of unarmed African Americans at the hands of law enforcement and the lack of accountability whatsoever on their part, as well as the antagonisms of law enforcement supporters, it’s certainly refreshing to hear that. And definitely after the unnecessary race-baiting/lacking in compassion or human decency/ratings-boosting assholery of CNN and Fox News.
Encinia pulled Bland over for making an illegal lane change on July 10, 2015. Encinia wrote Bland a ticket for the offense, but before giving it to her to sign he asked her to put out the cigarette she was smoking. When Bland questioned the request, Encinia’s tone changed and he demanded she exit the vehicle. Bland questioned the rationale for that also, and Encinia threatened to use his Taser on her, saying he was giving her a lawful order. Bland eventually exited her vehicle and Encinia took her out of the view of his vehicle’s dash camera where he says she assaulted him, prompting him to place Bland under arrest. Bland was found dead in the Waller County, Texas, jail three days later where officials there said she hung herself. Her family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the jail, the Texas Department of Public Safety, and Trooper Encinia. You can also view the full video of Encinia’s unnecessary and aggressive interaction with Bland below.
McCraw initiated the process of firing Encinia once a Waller County grand jury indicted Encinia on January 6 on a charge of perjury. The grand jury stated that Encinia’s account of how Bland exited her vehicle as written in his report was at conflict with what appeared on the dash cam video. You can read an account of what Enicinia wrote in the warrant for Bland’s arrest here. If convicted on the perjury charge Encinia could face up to one year in the Waller County Jail and a $4,000 fine.
Full video of Encinia’s traffic stop of Sandra Bland and the subsequent escalation