Best to avoid, or completely cooperate at the time. Legal stuff to happen later (at great expense in $s and time to YOU).
That alone would have me leaning in favor of the officer.
I generally take the cops side when there is an argument with a Black suspect but in this particular case I think the trooper was in the wrong.
Now she could have handled it much more politely but her point was still valid. He had no business arresting her.
While some cops got unfairly vilified (Darren Wilson), this cop was a grade-A a-hole in that video, and frankly had no business escalating the situation when he did.
This woman was mentally unstable. It is clear in how she interacted with the officer at every point. It is clear because she committed suicide.
It is tragic that she could not find the help he needed. It is tragic that she was part of groups like Black Lives Matter which promote the sort of rebellion this woman displayed.
You can see the whole dashcam video on youtube. On it you will find what a normal stop looks like — the one just before Sandra Bland. In it everything goes simply and smoothly. It would have been the same with Bland if she just hadn’t been determined to pick a fight with the officer.
The officer certainly had every reason to be concerned with her demeanor and attitude before pulling back into traffic. The fact that she was capable of coming completely unhinged and out of control with her hair trigger temper shows she could have easily been a danger to herself and others if he had just waved her on. If it was not him pulling her over for her traffic infraction, she could have just as easily have been set off by someone who got in her way.
Bland was a “civil rights activist” in Chicago, and a part of the Black Lives Matter movement. She had at least ten previous encounters with police in Illinois and Texas, and owed $7,579 in fines. She had at least one DUI conviction.
This woman was a dangerous driver, and the officer here had the right instincts about her. While I am sad for her tragic end, she was a threat to herself and others.
It’s OK. Waco PD will have some vacancies soon. He’d fit right in.