Texas authorities release video of Sandra Bland taking mugshot

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This afternoon Texas authorities have released more footage of Sandra Bland while she was in police custody. The video answers some speculations surrounding her case among one that she was dead when she took her mugshot.

“The reason we’re doing this is because of the misinformation that has been put out — both through social media and even through mainstream media,” Waller County Judge Trey Duhon said Tuesday afternoon. The jail released dozens of hours worth of unedited footage.

In the beginning of the video provided, Bland is shown sitting down while still wearing her own clothes from earlier in the day. During this time a jailer interrogates her. In another clip, she is escorted to a bathroom and disappears from the camera’s sight. When she reappears she has changed into an orange jumpsuit.

Bland then sits on a bench and materials for her jail cell are placed next to her by jailers.

The footage then cuts to a clip of her walking over to a gray wall to take a mugshot. Duhon says she had been sleeping in the holding cell before she walked over to take the photo. As this part of the video was shown, Duhon called out, “People who have gone to great lengths to insinuate or imply that she’s deceased.”

Following her death, some speculated whether Bland was alive while she was taking her mugshot. Some tweeted that it appeared that Bland is lying down on the ground while the photo is being taken. These rumors came amid inconsistent information provided by the Waller County police.

The 28-yeear-old was arrested for allegedly assaulting an officer. She was supposed to begin a new job at Praire View A&M university in July. Authorities say she committed suicide while family and friends allege otherwise.

Given the circumstances, the question that still remains is why was Sandra Bland even in custody in the first place.