Sandra Bland video: Presidential candidates call for new investigation of Texas woman's death
Some Democratic presidential candidates are calling for authorities to re-open an investigation into the death of Sandra Bland, a Texas woman who died while in custody after she was arrested during a traffic stop in 2015, after cell phone video recorded by Bland has surfaced.
Julián Castro, former San Antonio mayor, and former Rep. Beto O'Rourke, who is from El Paso, were the first to call for the investigation to re-open. South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Cory Booker both also commented on the video.
“The recently released video Sandra Bland took of her own arrest provides the latest example of a police justification for the death of an unarmed black person being revealed as a flat out lie,” Castro tweeted.
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Bland, an African-American woman, was found dead three days after being taken into police custody in 2015 and held at the Waller Country jail near Houston, Texas. Her death was ruled a suicide. She was 28.
The new 39-second video, which was uncovered by WFAA, was recorded from Bland's cell phone and is the first time the public has seen Bland's arrest through her perspective. The initial stop was recorded on a dash cam.
In the video, Bland questions why she is being apprehended after she was stopped by Department of Public Safety Trooper Brian Encinia while she was on her way to a grocery store. She was being pulled over for failing to use her turn signal when she changed lanes.
"I will drag you out of here," Encinia is heard saying in the video after he opened Bland's car door.
Several seconds later, Encinia points a taser at Bland and screams for her to get out of the car. "I will light you up," the trooper yells at Bland.
After getting out of the car, Encinia demands that the cell phone to be put down. Bland said it was her private property but eventually put down the phone after the trooper repeatedly asked her to.
Encinia at the time said that he felt threatened by Bland.
Bland's family has previously filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Waller County and Texas DPS, which was settled in 2016 for $1.9 million.
In addition, Encinia, the trooper involved with Bland's arrest, was fired from DPS and indicted by a grand jury for perjury after he claimed in an affidavit that he removed Bland from her car "to further conduct a safe traffic investigation," which the grand jury found to be false.
However, the charge was dropped after he pledged to never work as a police officer again and gave up his license to do so.
Bland's family said they had never seen the cell phone footage until WFAA showed them the video.
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O'Rourke called for "full accountability and justice" for Bland, whose death started protests disputing her cause of death and questioning police treatment of black men and women.
“Immediately re-open the investigation into Sandra Bland's arrest and death. There must be full accountability and justice," he tweeted.
In another tweet, Castro said: “This video is compelling proof that Trooper Encinia lied, that Sandra Bland posed no threat, and that there was no basis for her arrest. This case should be reopened and justice should finally be served.”
Buttigieg said the new video adds "new outrage" to Bland's case.
"These revelations add new outrage to the case of Sandra Bland. In the name of justice, the investigation into her arrest and death must be reopened," he tweeted.
Booker called the video "deeply unsettling."
"Not only do we need full transparency when it comes to police-community relations, but the way Ms. Bland was treated is unconscionable. A routine traffic stop should never end this way," Booker tweeted.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Sandra Bland video: Presidential candidates call for new investigation of Texas woman's death
