Video fuels US race row over death in custody

POLICE in the US were embroiled in a fresh race row last night after footage emerged showing an officer losing his temper with a black woman who later died in custody.

Sandra Bland, pictured, a civil rights activist from Chicago, was found hanged in her cell three days after she was arrested during a routine traffic stop in Texas.

Her family challenge claims she killed herself and believe officers were involved in her death. The 28-year-old was an outspoken critic of police brutality.

The video footage – shot from the dashboard camera of the patrol car during the incident in Prairie View near Houston on July 10 – was posted online by Texas officials yesterday. It appeared to show the officer threatening Miss Bland with a Taser and using the words: ‘I will light you up.’ But the audio also appeared to suggest that she had acted aggressively.

Miss Bland’s supporters claim the 52minute video had been edited. However, officials say problems occurred during uploading and they are working to ‘address’ the issue.

State trooper Brian Encina stopped Miss Bland’s car after she changed lane without signalling.

The conversation gets heated when the officer asks her to put out her cigarette and she refuses. Both lose their tempers when Miss Bland resists Mr Encina’s demands that she get out of the car.

He points a Taser stun gun at her and shouts: ‘Get out of the car. I will light you up. Get out. Now.’

She complies and is handcuffed but they struggle again and Miss Bland can be heard sobbing and screaming as she claims he is about to break her wrist. Mr Encina, 30, said he used force to ‘subdue Bland to the ground’ but she continued to fight back, ‘swinging her elbows’ and kicking him.

Miss Bland was taken to Waller County Sheriff ’s Office after being charged with assaulting a public servant.

Police say she used a plastic rubbish bag to hang herself. They say that the jail’s CCTV cameras showed that nobody had been near her cell for 90 minutes before her death.

Miss Bland’s friends and family say she gave no indication she might kill herself, although in videos she posted online earlier this year, she revealed she was suffering from depression.

Her death is now being investigated by the FBI.