State Sen. Royce West calls on DPS to release video of Chicago woman’s traffic stop

Sandra Bland

State Sen. Royce West, D-Dallas, is asking the state Department of Public Safety to publicly release video of the state trooper traffic stop that began the series of events that ended in Sandra Bland’s death in the Waller County Jail.

West wrote a letter to DPS Director Steven McCraw on Thursday about the “tragic, and I will call suspicious,” death of Bland. The senator said he had “unconfirmed information” that Bland was followed “for some distance” by the state trooper before the traffic stop.

“This detainment, arrest and the events that transpired have raised a number of questions for numerous persons, none more than myself,” West wrote. “It comes months and weeks into what seems to be an unabated season of unfortunate police-citizen encounters.”

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Waller County Sheriff Glenn Smith, however, did address accusations that he was fired from his prior job as Hempstead Police Chief because of police conduct toward African-Americans.

“Am I racist? No, I’m not,” he said. “I can assure you that black lives matter to Glenn Smith.”

Read more: http://crimeblog.dallasnews.com/2015/07/family-friends-question-account-of-womans-death-at-southeast-texas-jail.html/

Cross-posted in the Texas Group.