Sandra Bland Arrest Video Wasn't Edited: Texas Officials

Texas officals said Wednesday that a 52-minute dashcam video of the traffic stop and arrest of Sandra Bland, a 28-year old woman from suburban Chicago found dead in her Texas jail cell three days after the arrest, wasn't edited, NBC News reported.  

Tom Vinger, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, blamed a "technical issue during posting" for irregularities in the video.  He said that the department was working to correct the video.

In the video, which was released on Tuesday, a clip of a person walking and another of a car driving by are cut and repeat themselves as the audio continues uninterrupted. 

The alleged edits to the video were first reported by documentarian and writer Ben Norton.

WARNING: The raw video above may be disturbing to some and contains foul language.

Bland's death has raised suspicions of her family and supporters after police say Bland had committed suicide. 

The dashcam video shows how fast the traffic stop escalated. Bland, who was pulled over for an improper lane change, refuses to put out her cigarette. The officer becomes agitated and asks her to step out of her vehicle. When she refused his request he is heard saying, "get out of the car! I will light you up." 

The Texas trooper who pulled Bland over for a failing to signal a lane change said in an affidavit released on Tuesday that after handcuffing her for becoming combative, she swung her elbows at him and kicked him in his right shin.

Trooper Brian Encinia said he then used force "to subdue Bland to the ground," and she continued to fight back. He arrested her for assault on a public servant. Bland was taken to the Waller County Jail on July 10. She was found dead in her cell July 13.

Texas authorities said last week that Encinia violated procedures and the department's courtesy policy during the traffic stop and was placed on administrative leave.

Texas lawmakers who reviewed dashcam footage of the arrest confirmed Tuesday that Bland was "threatened" with a Taser during the traffic stop. They said they believe she should never have been arrested.

"Once you see what occurred, you will probably agree with me that she shouldn't have been taken into custody," state Sen. Royce West said at a news conference held before the dashcam video was released to the public. 

State officials have asked the Waller County District Attorney to ensure the grand jury that investigates Bland's death be "ethnically diverse," West said, so that its ruling can't be considered biased or a "whitewash." 

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"We will be patient to allow the process to work itself out – but it will be transparent," West said. "We're going to be watching every step of the way to make sure that the job will be done correctly."

Waller County District Attorney Elton Mathis said Monday that prosecutors would handle the case as thoroughly "as it would be in a murder investigation." 

Meanwhile, the Waller County sheriff's office has acknowledged in the aftermath of Bland's death that it violated state rules dictating personnel training and the monitoring of inmates.

The Texas Commission on Jail Standards last week cited the county jail for not providing documents proving that jailers in the past year had undergone training on interacting with inmates who are mentally disabled or potentially suicidal.

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The citation also shows jailers fell short by not observing inmates in-person at least once every hour. The sheriff's office said in a statement last week that jailers checked on Bland via intercom on one occasion rather than in person.

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