PRARIE VIEW, Texas -- The state trooper who arrested Sandra Bland, the woman whose violent arrest and jailhouse death in 2015 stoked outrage over police use of force against African-Americans, claimed in newly released interview recordings that he feared for his safety but could not explain why he broke with procedure during her arrest.
The recordings as well as a use-of-force report, first obtained by KXAN-TV through a Freedom of Information Act request, shed light on the mentality of former Texas Department of Public Safety trooper Brian Encinia, who has never been questioned in court or spoken publicly about the case.
Encinia, who is white, had stopped Bland on a neighborhood street in Prairie View on July 10, 2015, for failing to signal a lane change. Video from Encinia’s dashboard camera shows the trooper becoming enraged and drawing a stun gun after Bland refuses his commands that she put out her cigarette and exit her car. The video shows Encinia removing Bland from the car and the two exit the frame, but the audio captures the two arguing and Bland is heard crying and screaming as he cuffs her.
Three days after her arrest, the 28-year-old Bland was found dead in a Waller County Jail cell, where authorities said she had hanged herself.
Encinia was placed on administrative duty for violating DPS procedures and was eventually fired after being charged with perjury. A judge later dismissed that charge on the condition that Encinia resign from the DPS, surrender his police license and agree to never reapply.
A DPS use-of-force report also showed that Encinia’s supervisor found that the trooper displayed rude behavior toward Bland and did not follow standard procedure.
In the recordings of interviews with the agency’s Office of Inspector General, Encinia could not answer several questions about how he behaved — including why Encinia didn’t give Bland a reason for her arrest.
Encinia said several times during interviews that he believed his safety was in jeopardy during the Bland encounter. He said Bland’s movements and behavior inside her car worried him.
“I had a feeling that anything could’ve been either retrieved or hidden within her area of control. My primary concern was that purse, with her console, as far as being any kinds of weapons or drugs or, it’s unknown to me,” he said. “I don’t know what happened but something did, and to me that was the reasonable suspicion.”
But when asked why he didn’t order Bland to step out of her car or explain her movements, Encinia said he had no answer.
“I think things could’ve been handled differently, yes sir. I still did have a concern for the area of her control that I didn’t know what was there, but I do agree that things could’ve been done differently,” Encinia answered when asked if he could have de-escalated the situation by telling Bland she was only being given a warning for the traffic violation.
DPS officials and Encinia’s attorney did not respond to American-Statesman requests for comment.
An attorney for Bland’s family, Cannon Lambert, told the Statesman that the video of the incident proves Encinia was “disingenuous” about his reasons for arresting her and that he was not afraid for his safety because he never mentioned it to his supervisors or others at the time.
“That’s because he wasn’t” afraid for his safety, Lambert said. “That was just an effort to try and protect himself after realizing he had gone way beyond where he should have.”
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