#WhatHappenedToSandraBland is the talk of social media right now and possibly for good reason. Given that there exists polarizing doubt as to the authenticity of the dashboard video that showed Sandra Bland’s confrontation with Trooper Brian T. Encinia — which Encinia clearly escalated — I can’t say I’m surprised a conspiracy that calls into question everyone from Encinia to the jailers has become a trending, hotly-debated topic.
We need that drama in our lives. We need to believe in the idea that jailers had killed Sandra Bland before her mugshot was taken.
Even though I’ll be the first guy to admit I don’t totally buy the official report on President Kennedy’s death, I wouldn’t go as far as to call myself a conspiracy theorist. In fact, I am very critical of conspiracy theorists, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t acknowledge when there may be some legitimacy to the possibility.
I, however, do not believe that anyone on this planet has a 50-foot satellite dish in their ass that makes them periodically break into a stirring rendition of “I Love to Singa.”
I’m not here peddling the following theories as fact. I’m not necessarily refuting them either. I don’t live in Waller County (thankfully). I’m not part of this investigation. But, for some, the conspiracy angle may have some legitimacy.
Could Jailers Have Murdered Sandra Bland?
Sandra Bland was found dead on July 13th, three days after she had been arrested. The Harris County Medical Examiner ruled her death suicide by asphyxiation with a trash bag. Despite the M.E.’s findings and statements made by the jailers, Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis has stated that the investigation into Bland’s death would treated “just as if it were a murder investigation.”
Mathis also commented on the “many questions being raised” in Waller County and that the review needs to be “thorough and exhaustive.”
If her cause of death was determined to be suicide by asphyxiation, as the M.E. and the jailers have said, then why is the D.A. treating the investigation as if it were a homicide? Could it be a precautionary measure because of recent, and in some cases well-deserved, criticism of police procedure, or is it because the D.A. believes the jailers are lying and something more sinister may be afoot?
Why Do Bland’s Booking Documents Seem To Have Contradictory Statements?
Sandra Bland had epilepsy. According to one page from the 15-page PDF of Bland’s booking documents, she was taking Keppra for it. On a later page, it states she was not on any medications at the time she was booked.?Is this a clerical error, or is this a poor attempt at altering the truth on behalf of the Waller County Sheriff’s Office?
Also stirring controversy is whether or not Bland suffered from any kind of suicidal impulses. Her family states that she had no diagnosed clinical depression or any other kind of mental illness and the booking documents contain two questionnaires with contradictory answers regarding previous suicide attempts. Furthermore, in a handwritten section asking the year when Bland attempted suicide, the person filling out the information apparently wrote “2015,” but then wrote “2014” over it.
Could these contradictions also be clerical error? If so, then whoever was in charge of these documents should really consider other career options. I’ll admit, it is a little sketchy to have multiple glaring errors of this magnitude in the same report.
If Bland Hanged Herself, Then From What Did She Hang Herself?
According to the official timeline of events, Sandra Bland was found dead by jailers at 8:58 am. Shortly after 9 am, Justice of the Peace Charles Karisch arrived at her cell and pronounced her dead. In Karisch’s vague statements on the matter, he thought he saw “a plastic bag hanging from something” in her cell, which police confirmed to be a Y-shaped bar that was part of a privacy partition.
Some find it interesting that Karisch was able to arrive so quickly.
Bland was six-feet tall and had allegedly hung herself with a trash bag from the Y-shaped bar. The official account from the Waller County Sheriff’s Office states that jailers found Bland in a “semi-standing position” and that her feet were touching the ground.
Aside from the question as to whether or not a trash bag would have enough integrity for someone to successfully hang themselves with it, how could Bland have successfully hanged herself if her feet were touching the ground?
Assuming the trash bag has enough integrity to help Bland kill herself, she would have to use force to keep the bag tight around her neck. She would pass out before she died.?For her to have actually?hanged?herself with the trash bag, she would likely have needed higher ceilings. Hanging requires the neck to break, which usually requires a drop of about 5 to 9 feet — dependent upon the size of the person being hanged –to generate the 1,000 to 1,250 foot-pounds of torque needed to break the neck.
There’s no way Bland could have successfully hanged herself in her cell, in the traditional sense anyway. Now, could she have choked herself out? It isn’t likely, but it could have happened. But what of Karisch’s quick arrival to the cell? Perhaps he was already on-site. Or, you know, perhaps the Waller County Sheriff’s Office is blowing smoke up everyone’s asses.
What’s The Deal With Sandra Bland’s Mugshot?
Sandra Bland’s mugshot shows her in a bright orange jumpsuit when jailers snapped her photos. What’s causing the distress among the public about the jumpsuit? A search of inmate photos from Waller County, Texas shows the inmates wearing the clothes in which they were arrested. Couple this with a failure on the part of the Waller County Sheriff’s Office in explaining why she was in the jumpsuit, the discrepancy is going to get people talking.
As a whole, the mugshot appears to be a fulcrum of sorts in the discussion of whether Bland was killed by jailers or managed to commit suicide without alerting the jailers. Some have pointed out that a second mugshot photo was conveniently missing (which turned up in the booking documents), but more interestingly (and more disturbingly) some have speculated that Sandra Bland’s mugshot photo may actually be a photo of her corpse.
Some have noted the background of her mugshot being the same color as the floor of her cell.
“The background to her mugshot looks like the same color as the floor to me #SandraBland?http://t.co/AccLtSWQBM“
-SpiceyFe (@spiceyfe) July 23, 2015
Others have commented on the position of Bland’s shoulders, using a 2013 mugshot from Illinois for comparison.
“#STAYWOKE!! pic.twitter.com/5hO3CNgeXp”
-valentina (@happylilnugget) July 23, 2015
More have commented about the angle of the mugshot and what that could imply.
“This #SandraBland mugshot is so terrifying to me. Why is she on the floor? Why are shoulders straight and why can I see up her nostrils?”
-1893 (@MUVAMOANA) July 23, 2015
These theories and many others have coalesced into a widely-popular assertion that Sandra Bland’s mugshot was taken by jailers after she died, posed on the floor of her cell and taken at an angle above her corpse.
Or, perhaps, there is a less horrifying truth out there.
Could jailers in Waller County, Texas have killed Sandra Bland? I don’t know. Could the jailers have doctored her booking information and records? I can’t say one way or another. Could the jailers be complicit in he death? Who knows? Could the dashboard video from the traffic stop have been doctored? Perhaps. This incident took place in Waller County, so I wouldn’t be surprised if any of these theories were true. After all, it’s not like Waller County has been a bastion of racial harmony.
However, before we jump out on ledges we may not be able to back off of, perhaps we should take a moment and reserve our judgments. While some conspiracy theories have proven to have legitimacy, the bulk of them have proven to be no more legitimate than the (sadly) defunct Weekly World News’ eye-opening coverage of Bat Boy’s endorsement of President Obama.
Come on, guys. Just because the X-Files is coming back doesn’t mean we need to start pretending to be Fox Mulder.
