Posted: Jul 30, 2015 11:12 am
Doubtdispelled wrote:Oldskeptic wrote:It's clear to me, and should be for anyone else, that from that dashcam video she was not acting rationally
It sure as hell isn't clear to me.
He asked her what was wrong, she answered him, and it appears he didn't like the answer. His reaction was not rational. He looked for something else to pick on her for, and escalated the situation beyond all common sense.
She was as pissed as all hell, and I don't blame her. Her reaction was - if perhaps not the most sensible when faced with such unwarranted provocation from an officer - perfectly understandable and not in the least irrational.
One might also observe that all this happened after the cop issued the written caution.
At which point the traffic stop, legally speaking, was over and it was just a cop talking to a citizen. He'd stopped her for a valid reason, but he chose to deal with that by issuing a warning. At that point, the traffic stop was over and at no point during it did the officer see a need for Bland to exit the vehicle. If he'd ordered Bland out of the car during the stop, it would have been entirely legal. Cops have that power. It's a valid stop. The officer has good reason to maintain complete control over any traffic stop and the courts have supported this. There is nothing that has been presented that indicates some threat presented itself between the issuing of the written warning and the order to leave the car.