Debunked: Sandra Bland dead in mugshot

BuffaloCub

New Member

So the Sandra Bland case has been interesting and heartbreaking. Now I don't know what I believe whether she was killed or commited suicide or not. But I've been seeing this image floating the web lately. Not sure what I make of it.

 
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It is heartbreaking. Even more heartbreaking that conspiracy theorists would cause her famiily this additional pain, by claiming from 'incredibility' alone that that there is a picture of their loved one deceased floating around the internet. My prayers to her family and friends for having to endure this on top of everything else.


As far as the 'claim' without evidence:
she is looking at the camera. In fact she looks like she is crying. her hair is fine. that picture is not her jail cell, although there is a small grey floor area in her cell. thats what mugshots from that particular jail look like.

This man who also hung himself in 2012 -from the ceiling vent, the article says, looks alive in his mugshot. as does this older lady.
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beautiful smile. Diamonds smile.
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her cell
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A few problems with that theory:

1) There's a lot of people present in a jail/cell area, police/cell guards/other prisoners. Even on a quiet day, there's still plenty of 'traffic' moving about. I'd be willing to bet that someone would find it difficult to stay quiet on the issue, were this really the case.

2) A video of her walking around the jail and posing for her photo has been released.

3) All the points in that post are just opinion. To me, she's looking straight at the camera, looks annoyed/fed up. Her skin and facial features dont look "dead" (Without wanting to be grisly, there are plenty of online crime scene photos of dead people laying on the floor, if you really want to compare you could look at those and see for yourself.)

4) There's a good breakdown of the claim here, which includes the video: http://www.buzzfeed.com/ryanhatesth...t-sandra-bland-was-already-dead-wh#.bh2AK1yBO

The claim that "she did not go from being a fighter to suicidal" in that time is just grossly wrong. A few days inside a cell can drive even the most "normal" person to do strange things. When you have nothing but time to sit and stare at four blank walls, lights on 24/7, very restricted privacy and nothing to take your mind off the situation it can quickly equate to a breakdown in mental state. This is a reason why all cell complexes have a questionnaire to be completed with the prisoner prior to booking in, to cover off on mental illness/injury etc.
 
I have seen more dead people than I care to remember, and this lady does not look dead to me, though I claim no pathology or coroners credentials.

She does however look completely broken psychologically and mentally exhausted. This is a look that I have seen on people in/post combat, so one wonders how what started as a traffic stop, which moved on to a discussion about the lethality of her cigarette that she was smoking in her own car turned into an arrestable offence...?

As has been discussed on countless threads, there does seem to be a problem with US cops escalating a situation, in which once a process has begun there is no room for discretion or common sense. Handcuffs, beating, tazing, pepper-spraying and a seemingly equitable custody process, by which I mean equitably horrific - traffic violators are treated the same as serial killers and rapists.

But back to the point, I doubt she is dead in this photo, and appalled that the legitimate questions surrounding her death is diluted amongst nonsense claims such as this.
 
there does seem to be a problem with US cops escalating a situation
i think a modifying word would be appropriate -like "some" or "more and more" or "some areas of the US".

I think this rampant "all police in the US are brutalizers and bullies and we should disrespect their authority" mentality is part of what caused this situation. I have no use for this "fight back against the police one on one" movement. This young lady may be dead because of it.

The police officer obviously lost his cool too quickly and did not handle the situation well AT ALL, but Internet Society itself needs to start taking some responsibility for the hand we play in these outcomes. My niece speaks horribly about police because of this online police-bashing movement; I can absolutely see this happening to her. And i know it WILL happen to her despite how many times I've told her "just do what they say and we'll sue them later", she retorts "thats not the point, I'm not going to let some cop tell me what to do". I'm sick of it.

The police were negligent all over this case. But that doesnt absolve the Internet Culture from its part in this.
 
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