Sandra Bland's Sister 'Infuriated' By Dash Cam Footage

Photo: A screenshot of Bland’s arrest video shows her getting out of the car.

Sharon Cooper, the sister of 28-year-old Sandra Bland, said she was infuriated after seeing the dash cam footage of Bland’s Texas arrest.

Cooper, who spoke at a press conference Wednesday at the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle, said the officer that pulled Bland over for failing to use a turn signal was picking on her and that his actions were petty.

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“I’m infuriated, and everyone else should be infuriated as well,” Cooper told reporters.

The footage shows Trooper Brian Encinia asking Bland to put out her cigarette. When Bland refuses, Encinia tells her to get out of the car, which Bland again refuses to do. Encinia then opens Bland’s door and demands that she get out of the car.

“Step out or I will remove you,” Encinia says. “I’m giving you a lawful order.”

Encinia says he will drag Bland out of the car and threatens to “light you up.”

“Not once did he (the trooper) say he felt threatened. But when you tell me you’re going to ‘light me up,’ I feel extremely threatened and concerned, and I’m not going to get out of my car,” Cooper said.

Bland eventually got out of the car and was handcuffed by Encinia.

“You’re about to break my f-----g wrist,” Bland says.

Bland and Encinia then move off camera, but a commotion can be heard and Bland accuses Encinia of slamming her head into the ground.

“I’ve got epilepsy,” Bland says.

Family attorney Cannon Lambert said the arrest video showed that everything could have been easily avoided and that the family is asking for a forensic study of the video.

“If a lawsuit comes out of it, so be it,” Lambert said.

Bland was arrested July 10 for allegedly kicking an officer. She was initially pulled over for a traffic violation. She was found dead in her cell July 13. The official ruling for her death has been self-inflicted asphyxiation.

Bland was set to start a new job at Texas Prairie View A&M, where she graduated in 2009.

A funeral for Bland will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at the DuPage African Methodist Episcopal Church in Lisle.