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Sandra Bland is dead because of the treatment she received at the hands of Brian Encinia.

While the question of whether the 28-year-old Illinois woman actually committed suicide after her encounter with the Texas state trooper landed her in jail is being debated, what's certain is that it was Encinia's bad policing that put Bland on a rendezvous with death.

After stopping her for changing lanes without signaling - a minor traffic infraction - Encinia behaved more like a thin-skinned guy with a gun than an officer of the law when he sensed that Bland was really irritated that he pulled her over.

Returning to her car after writing a warning ticket, an action that would have sent Bland on her way had he simply given it to her, Encinia didn't tell Bland he was about to let her go. Instead, as she sat in her car smoking a cigarette and looking away from him, Encinia picked a fight.

"You mind putting out your cigarette, please? If you don't mind," he said to Bland.

When she responded by asking why she had "to put out my cigarette," Encinia ordered her to get out of the car. He would later tell a supervisor that he tried to de-escalate his confrontation with Bland, a Chicago-area native who just arrived in Texas to take a job at Prairie View A&M University. But the recording of his interaction with Bland that was caught on the dashboard camera of his patrol car tells a different story.

It showed that he was spiraling out of control.

It showed Encinia was the instigator of the verbal sparring that led him to pull his Taser and threaten to "light you up" when Bland resisted his order to get out of her car. It showed he told her she was under arrest while she sat in her car, and not much later in their confrontation, as he would tell a supervisor.

A close reading of the transcript of this encounter also shows that Encinia misled his supervisor on another point when he radioed in his account of what happened. "I tried to de-escalate her. It wasn't getting anywhere, at all. I mean I tried to put the Taser away. I tried talking to her and calming her down, and that was not working," he said.

In fact, he did just the opposite. When Encinia returned to Bland's car with a warning ticket, he could have simply handed it over and let her drive off. But she was still smarting over being stopped, and he didn't like her attitude. He extended the traffic stop for no good reason, which is something the Supreme Court said this year in Rodriguez v. United States that cops can't do.

In that 6-3 decision, the high court ruled that stopping someone "for a traffic violation justifies a police investigation of that violation," and that the officer's authority over the person ends "when tasks tied to the traffic infraction are - or reasonably should have been - completed."

But after writing Bland a warning ticket, Encinia didn't let her go; he ordered her to stop smoking and get out of the car for no good legal reason.

Then, to cover his tracks - an apparent violation of the Rodriguez ruling - Encinia told his supervisor during their radio exchange that his confrontation with Bland happened while "we were in the middle of a traffic stop and the traffic stop was not completed."

That's bunkum.

The trooper's authority over Bland ended when he wrote her a warning ticket. But he extended that traffic stop - and goaded her into a confrontation that would give him cause to arrest her - because he didn't like her attitude.

And for that he is morally - and a civil court may find him legally - responsible for what happened to Sandra Bland in that jail cell.
DeWayne Wickham, dean of Morgan State University's School of Global Journalism and Communication, writes weekly for USA TODAY. In addition to its own editorials, USA TODAY publishes diverse opinions from outside writers, including our Board of Contributors. To read more columns like this, go to the Opinion front page.

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Wickham: Sandra Bland's fate sealed by bad policing

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Sandra Bland is dead because of the treatment she received at the hands of Brian Encinia. While the question of whether the 28-year-old Illinois woman actually committed suicide after her encounter with the Texas state trooper landed her in jail is being debated, what's certain is that it was Encinia's bad policing that put Bland on a rendezvous with death.

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Timeline of Tamir Rice Case

A grand jury declined on Monday to indict the police officers involved in the 2014 shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.

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A grand jury declined on Monday to indict the police officers involved in the 2014 shooting death of 12-year-old Tamir Rice in Cleveland.

CLEVELAND - A grand jury declined on Monday to charge a Cleveland patrolman who fatally shot a 12-year-old boy holding a pellet gun, capping more than a year of investigation into a case that added to national outrage over white officers killing African-Americans.

In announcing the decision, Timothy J. McGinty, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, said he had recommended that the grand jurors not bring charges in the killing of the boy, Tamir Rice, who was playing with the gun outside a recreation center in November 2014.

Mr. McGinty said the fatal encounter had been a tragedy and a "perfect storm of human error, mistakes and miscommunications." But he said that enhancement of video from the scene had made it "indisputable" that Tamir, who was black, was drawing the pellet gun from his waistband when he was shot, either to hand it over to the officers or to show them that it was not a real firearm. He said that there was no reason for the officers to know that, and that the officer who fired, Timothy Loehmann, had a reason to fear for his life.

The case began when a caller to 911 said a male was pointing a gun at people in a Cleveland park. The caller added that the gun was "probably fake," and that the person waving it was "probably a juvenile." But those caveats were not relayed to Officer Loehmann or his partner, Frank Garmback, who was driving the patrol car. Officer Loehmann, who is white, opened fire within seconds of arriving at the park. Officer Garmback was also spared any charges.

The shooting in Cleveland came just two days before a grand jury in Missouri declined to indict a white police officer in Ferguson who fatally shot Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old. The Ferguson case became one of a series of police killings that drew protests - in New York, Baltimore, North Charleston, S.C., and other cities - by demonstrators denouncing the way the police treat African-Americans.

Though some officers have been charged this year for on-duty killings, in cities including Cincinnati and Baltimore, others have not. Mr. McGinty said that no matter how tragic the circumstances involving Tamir's death, the law gives the benefit of the doubt to officers who must make split-second decisions.

Tamir's family and protesters had criticized the approach of the prosecutor throughout the investigation, which took more than 13 months. The Cleveland police initially investigated the case, then the county sheriff's office conducted its own inquiry. Mr. McGinty's office released the results of the sheriff's investigation in June, and months later presented the case to a grand jury.

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Demonstrators gathered Monday at the Cudell Recreation Area in Cleveland, where Tamir Rice, 12, was shot by a police officer in November 2014. Credit... Alex Slitz for The New York Times

"It has been clear for months now that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty was abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment," lawyers for Tamir Rice's family said Monday in a statement. "Even though video shows the police shooting Tamir in less than one second, Prosecutor McGinty hired so-called expert witnesses to try to exonerate the officers and tell the grand jury their conduct was reasonable and justified."

As with many police killings this year, outrage was sparked by what was caught on camera. Grainy surveillance video, which circulated widely online, showed Officer Garmback pulling the police cruiser within a few feet of Tamir and Officer Loehmann stepping out of the car and almost immediately firing his gun. Tamir died hours later.

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Prosecutor on Tamir Rice Decision

A grand jury said the evidence "did not constitute criminal action by police" after a Cleveland police officer fatally shot Tamir Rice, 12, in November 2014, a prosecutor said.

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A grand jury said the evidence "did not constitute criminal action by police" after a Cleveland police officer fatally shot Tamir Rice, 12, in November 2014, a prosecutor said. Credit Credit... Alex Slitz for The New York Times

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Cleveland Officer Will Not Face Charges in Tamir Rice Shooting Death (Published 2015)

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CLEVELAND - A grand jury declined on Monday to charge a Cleveland patrolman who fatally shot a 12-year-old boy holding a pellet gun, capping more than a year of investigation into a case that added to national outrage over white officers killing African-Americans. In announcing the decision, Timothy J.

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On this day in 1992 the four officers who had been video-taped beating Rodney King within an inch of his life were acquitted of all charges, prompting riots throughout Los Angeles. The great attention the case received in the media seems almost quaint today when it seems that every other day brings news of a new instance of police brutality against people of color; on the off-days we instead hear of police impunity. In the Nation of June 1, 1992, the great Los Angeles historian Mike Davis published an essay, "In L.A., Burning All Illusions," about the case and the riots. His optimism is today, quite frankly, more than a little difficult to take.

The balance of grievances in the community is complex. Rodney King is the symbol that links unleashed police racism in Los Angeles to the crisis of black life everywhere, from Las Vegas to Toronto. Indeed, it is becoming clear that the King case may be almost as much of a watershed in American history as Dred Scott, a test of the very meaning of the citizenship for which African-Americans have struggled for 400 years. But on the grass-roots level, especially among gang youth, Rodney King may not have quite the same profound resonance. As one of the Inglewood Bloods told me: "Rodney King? Shit, my homies be beat like dogs by the police every day. This riot is about all the homeboys murdered by the police, about the little sister killed by the Koreans, about twenty-seven years of oppression. Rodney King just the trigger."

April 29, 1992
To mark The Nation 's 150th anniversary, every morning this year The Almanac will highlight something that happened that day in history and how The Nation covered it. Get The Almanac every day (or every week) by signing up to the e-mail newsletter.

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April 29, 1992: Four LAPD Officers Who Beat Rodney King Are Acquitted, Prompting Riots

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On this day in 1992 the four officers who had been video-taped beating Rodney King within an inch of his life were acquitted of all charges, prompting riots throughout Los Angeles.

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A grandmother's bones were broken. A pregnant woman was violently thrown to the ground. Millions of dollars were paid out to numerous victims of police brutality.

And almost none of us noticed!

So I join all who say that protests in Baltimore should remain peaceful, and I will continue to withhold judgment about Gray's death until more facts are known.

But I also insist that Baltimore protests are appropriate regardless of what happened to Freddie Gray, as is more federal scrutiny and intervention. Although much was rightly made of Ferguson's racially unrepresentative local leadership, the presence of a black mayor and a diverse city council has not solved Baltimore's police problem, partly because the DOJ responded to revelations of epidemic brutality with less than the full-scale civil rights probe that some residents requested and because Maryland pols have thwarted reform bills urged by city leaders.

There are so many good reasons for locals to be outraged.

The Baltimore Sun's article shows why in detail. And a few choice excerpts are the best beginning in this attempt to contextualize the ongoing protests within recent history.

Let's start with the money.

$5.7 million is the amount the city paid to victims of brutality between 2011 and 2014. And as huge as that figure is, the more staggering number in the article is this one: "Over the past four years, more than 100 people have won court judgments or settlements related to allegations of brutality and civil-rights violations." What tiny percentage of the unjustly beaten win formal legal judgments?

If you're imagining that they were all men in their twenties, think again:

Victims include a 15-year-old boy riding a dirt bike, a 26-year-old pregnant accountant who had witnessed a beating, a 50-year-old woman selling church raffle tickets, a 65-year-old church deacon rolling a cigarette and an 87-year-old grandmother aiding her wounded grandson. Those cases detail a frightful human toll. Officers have battered dozens of residents who suffered broken bones - jaws, noses, arms, legs, ankles - head trauma, organ failure, and even death, coming during questionable arrests. Some residents were beaten while handcuffed; others were thrown to the pavement.

The 87-year-old grandmother was named Venus Green. A former teacher with two college degrees, she spent her retirement years as a foster parent for needy children. She was on her porch one day when her grandson ran up crying for an ambulance.

He'd been shot.

The article goes on to tell her story from a legal document in her successful lawsuit:

Paramedics and police responded to the emergency call, but the white officer became hostile. "What happened? Who shot you?" Green recalled the officer saying to her grandson, according to an 11-page letter in which she detailed the incident for her lawyer. Excerpts from the letter were included in her lawsuit. "You're lying. You know you were shot inside that house. We ain't going to help you because you are lying."

"Mister, he isn't lying," replied Green, who had no criminal record. "He came from down that way running, calling me to call the ambulance."

The officer, who is not identified in the lawsuit, wanted to go into the basement, but Green demanded a warrant. Her grandson kept two dogs downstairs and she feared they would attack. The officer unhooked the lock, but Green latched it. He shoved Green against the wall.

She hit the wooden floor. "Bitch, you ain't no better than any of the other old black bitches I have locked up," Green recalled the officer saying as he stood over her. "He pulled me up, pushed me in the dining room over the couch, put his knees in my back, twisted my arms and wrist and put handcuffs on my hands and threw me face down on the couch."

After pulling Green to her feet, the officer told her she was under arrest. Green complained of pain. "My neck and shoulder are hurting," Green told him. "Please take these handcuffs off." An African-American officer then walked in the house, saw her sobbing and asked that the handcuffs be removed since Green wasn't violent. The cuffs came off, and Green didn't face any charges. But a broken shoulder tormented her for months.

When pondering the fact that Baltimore paid out $5.7 million in brutality settlements over four years, consider that the payout in this case was just $95,000. (For the story of the pregnant woman and many others, the full article is here.)

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The Brutality of Police Culture in Baltimore

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A grandmother's bones were broken. A pregnant woman was violently thrown to the ground. Millions of dollars were paid out to numerous victims of police brutality. And almost none of us noticed! So I join all who say that protests in Baltimore should remain peaceful, and I will continue to withhold judgment about Gray's death until more facts are known.