The Case Of Sandra Bland Vs. Encinia

Sandra Bland was the potential offender in a traffic stop initiated by Officer Brian Encinia. Sandra Bland, in my opinion, clearly had a great passion for the rights of the American population. She appeared to be rather educated regarding her as well as others’ rights. Officer Encinia, in my opinion, appeared to be unwavering regarding his duty and obligations as an officer of the law. In the beginning of the traffic stop, one can see that there was tension between Sandra Bland and Officer Encinia which created a scenario that became very problematic. Officer Encinia was justified in initiating the traffic stop. However, Officer Encinia appeared to anger hastily as a result of Sandra Bland’s negative reaction to the traffic stop and her

A large percentage of the population display negative emotions when they are involved in a traffic stop themselves due to the fact that generally they do not consider themselves as being offenders or potential offenders. People get uneasy around officers of the law usually no matter the situation and in turn can cause the offender or potential offender to display negative emotions. Sandra Bland should not have treated Officer Encinia the way she did during the traffic stop even if she was uneasy and upset about the traffic stop.

The way Sandra Bland was behaving towards Officer Encinia was not a way one should act towards an officer of the law or anyone else for that matter. Sandra Bland was being disrespectful, harsh, and hateful towards Officer Encinia. In my opinion, the reason the situation became extremely problematic was due to Sandra Bland’s behavior and negative interactions with Officer Encinia. I believe the situation would not have went as far as it did if it had not been for Sandra Bland’s reaction to the traffic stop and her disrespectful manner toward Officer

In the video, Officer Encinia asked Sandra Bland to extinguish her cigarette, however she decided not to comply with his request (Antihostile, 2015). This is when Officer Encinia’s behavior began to escalate so quickly. Every time he spoke to Sandra Bland at that moment in time his voice got louder each time and became more demanding each time. After shouting at Sandra Bland for a minimum amount of time, not any longer than two minutes, he warned her of his rights to utilize his Taser and warned her that he may remove her from her vehicle himself (Antihostile. 2015). One of the key problems of the situation was due to Sandra Bland refusing to extinguish her cigarette and this created his behavior to become problematic because it seemed like he thought she was disrespecting him. It would have just been a simple traffic stop. Sandra Bland should have extinguished her cigarette to be respectful towards Officer Encinia. What is heard in the video though is that Officer Encinia simply requested that she extinguish her cigarette (Antihostile, 2015). If this is the case, Officer Encinia’s request was simply a request not a lawful command and Sandra Bland did not have to