Tensions flare in Texas Capitol over new Sandra Bland video
Source: Associated Press
Paul J. Weber, Associated Press Updated 2:32 pm CDT, Friday, May 24, 2019
Photo: Andy Alfaro, AP
FILE - In this July 10, 2015, file frame from dashcam video provided by the Texas Department of Public Safety, Trooper Brian Encinia arrests Sandra Bland after she became combative during a routine traffic stop in Waller County, Texas. Texas authorities are expected to face sharp questioning over why cellphone video Sandra Bland took during her confrontational 2015 traffic stop never publicly surfaced until May 2019. (Texas Department of Public Safety via AP, File)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas authorities on Friday denied withholding a cellphone video of Sandra Bland's confrontational traffic stop, responding to a Democratic legislator's heated questions about why the 39-second clip never publicly surfaced until now.
Bland, a 28-year-old black woman from outside Chicago, had used her phone in 2015 to briefly film a white state trooper as he drew a stun gun and yelled "I will light you up!" while ordering her out of the car. She was dead three days later, hanging in her jail cell outside Houston.
"The Department of Public Safety has not illegally withheld evidence from Sandra Bland's family or her legal team," said Phillip Adkins, general counsel of the agency.
The video had not been publicly seen until it was aired this month by a Dallas television station, and both lawmakers and Bland's family say they had also never seen the clip . They say the video proves that Trooper Brian Encinia had no reason to fear for his life and questioned whether he should have faced charges beyond perjury.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/texas/article/Texas-lawmakers-want-answers-over-new-Sandra-13888325.php
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