Texas DPS denies dashcam video was edited
The Texas Department of Public Safety tells CBS News the newly released dashcam video connected with a female inmate's death was not edited.
The spokesperson blamed a technical problem, stating: "The entire video was uploaded to include the audio and video of the conversation the trooper had by telephone with his sergeant, which occurred after the arrest. Some of the video during this conversation was affected in the upload and is being addressed. We are working to repost the dash cam video."
The 52-minute video released by the Texas DPS Tuesday shows a state trooper, Brian Encinia, pulling over, then arresting Sandra Bland.
The 28-year-old woman was found dead in her jail cell three days later.
Multiple breaks and jumps appear in the dashcam video, though the audio flows uninterrupted.
In one instance, a car repeatedly comes into the frame and then disappears.
The multiple breaks and jumps make it appear as if it is possible that the video was edited, reports Sherry Williams of CBS Houston affiliate KHOU-TV.
Twenty-five minutes into the showing Bland's traffic stop, a man exits a tow truck.
Encinia can be heard in the background, referring to Bland, saying, "She just started going, 'This is an m-f and you give me a m-f ticket for a lane change."'
The tow truck driver walks off camera.
Seconds later, the same man is shown exiting the vehicle again. Then a third time.
The start shows Encinia pulling Bland over for failing to signal while changing lanes.
He prepares to write her a ticket or give her a warning.
"You seem very irritated," Encinia says.
"I am. I really am," Bland replies. " ... I was getting out of your way. You were speeding up, tailing me. So I move over and you stopped me. So, yea, I am a little irritated."
Encinia asks Bland to put out her cigarette. She refuses. He asks her again and again to step out of the car.
"No, no, you don't have the right!" Bland protests at one point.
"Step out of the car!" Encinia demands. " ... Get out of the car now or I am going to remove you! I am going to yank you out of here!"
"Don't touch me!" Bland insists. "I'm not under arrest."
"You are under arrest!" Encinia says.
"I'm under arrest for what?" Bland asks.
Encinia then takes his Taser out of its holster and aims it at Bland.
"Get out of the car! I will light you up!" he says, apparently referring to Tasering her. " ... Get out! Now!"
"Wow!" Bland exclaims
"Get out of the car!" Encinia repeats.
"For a failure to signal, you doing all of this for a failure to signal!" Bland remarks.
"Get over there!" Encinia says.
"Right, yea," Bland responds.
Encinia places Bland in handcuffs off-camera, but their voices are still recorded.
"You're about to break my wrist! Can you stop? You're about to f****** break my wrist. Stop!" Bland cries out.
Sounds of struggling are heard.
"Stop now!" Encinia orders.
In an affadavit released Tuesday, Encinia claims Bland "began swinging her elbows at me and then kicked my right leg in the shin."
Bland spent three days in jail after her arrest trying to raise $500 from her family to post bond.
On July 13, she was found dead in her jail cell with a plastic bag around her neck.
State Senator Royce West, a Dallas Democrat, told KHOU, "Once you see what occurred, you will probably agree with me that she did not to be deserved to have been taken into custody."
At a memorial for Bland Tuesday night, her mother says she believes her daughter was murdered.
"There is not anywhere that I can see that my baby took her own life," said Geneva Reed-Veal.
Encinia has been placed on administrative leave for violating department procedures regarding traffic stops.
The local district attorney says Bland's death is being investigated as a homicide.
The FBI and Justice Department have been asked to assist in the investigation.