Sandra Bland Death: Officials Say Glitch, Not Editing, Caused Video Irregularities

July 22, 2015, 9:51 AM EDT / Updated July 22, 2015, 9:57 AM EDT

By Erin McClam, John Yang and Amy Calvin

Authorities in Texas said Wednesday that a technical glitch, not intentional editing, caused the irregularities in a 52-minute dashcam video of the traffic stop and arrest of Sandra Bland, who was found hanged in her jail cell three days later.

Tom Vinger, a spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, blamed a “technical issue during posting.” He said that the department was working to correct the video.

At several points, the video repeats itself or is cut, while the audio continues uninterrupted. The department posted the video to YouTube on Tuesday.

The video shows an escalating confrontation between Bland and Brian Encinia, a state trooper, on July 10 after he stopped her for failing to signal a lane change. At one point, the trooper draws his Taser and shouts: “Get out of the car! I will light you up!”

None of the irregularities in the video appear in the 14 minutes that show Bland’s arrest and the confrontation.

But in one section of the video, a tow truck driver walks toward the trooper’s cruiser, then out of the frame, then reappears and completes the same walk seconds later. In another section, a white car appears, disappears from the frame, then appears again.

On the morning of July 13, Bland was found hanging from a partition in her jail cell, a plastic trash can liner around her neck. Police have said she killed herself.

Her death has raised suspicions among her family and become the latest rallying cry among activists outraged by the treatment of blacks by law enforcement.

Image: Sandra Bland — Sandra Bland was a vocal civil rights campaigner.NBC Chicago

Steven McCraw, the director of the Department of Public Safety, told reporters Tuesday that the trooper did not comply with procedure, including by failing to let Bland know what action he planned to take and by failing to be courteous and professional.

The trooper has been placed on administrative leave.

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Erin McClam

Erin McClam is a senior writer for NBC News, responsible for reporting, writing and editing general news for NBCNews.com. Prior to joining the site in January 2013, McClam worked at The Associated Press, where he spent 13 years and was most recently financial markets editor. In that role, McClam was responsible for a team of five reporters and a deputy editor that covered the stock and bond markets, financial regulation and the nation's largest banks.

Prior to that role, McClam held a variety of jobs at AP, including being a national correspondent and an original member of its Top Stories Desk editing operation.

McClam lives in New York.

John Yang

John Yang is an NBC News correspondent based in Chicago, where he covers a variety of stories for “Nightly News with Brian Williams,” “TODAY” and MSNBC.

Since being assigned to Chicago in 2009, Yang has covered a number of major stories, including the deadly April 2011 outbreak of tornadoes in Alabama. His coverage was part of a "Nightly News with Brian Williams” honored with the prestigious Edward R. Murrow Award for “Best Newscast.” In 2012, he was the lead correspondent for NBC News’ coverage of the sex abuse trial of former Penn State football coach Jerry Sandusky. He also reported from Afghanistan.

Previously, Yang was based in Washington, where he was White House correspondent. He was part of the NBC News team honored with an Emmy for coverage of Election Night 2008.

In September 2007, Yang was the only television correspondent to accompany President Bush on his surprise visit to a U.S. airbase in Anbar Province in Iraq, west of Baghdad. During the visit, he conducted a one-on-one interview with the president.

Yang joined NBC in January 2007 from ABC News, where he worked in Washington and Jerusalem. As ABC News’s Middle East correspondent, Yang covered many major events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, including the 2002 Israeli military operation in the West Bank and the final days of the standoff at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. Yang also spent extensive time in Iraq and was the first American broadcast reporter to interview captured al Qaeda fighters imprisoned along the Iran-Iraq border.

In 2000, he covered the presidential campaign of then-Texas Gov. George W. Bush during the Republican primaries. That fall, he covered then-Vice President Al Gore’s campaign through Election Day and the Florida recount.

In the days following the 9/11 terror attacks, Yang reported from the Pentagon and was part of the ABC News team honored with both the George Foster Peabody Award and an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award. Yang was also part of the ABC News team honored with an Alfred I. DuPont-Columbia University Award for coverage of the death of Pope John Paul II.

Prior to joining ABC News, Yang was a reporter and editor at The Washington Post for nearly ten years. As a reporter, he covered Congress and the White House. As an editor, he directed coverage of economic policy in the paper’s business section and oversaw political features in The Post’s Style section. Throughout his print career, he covered Congress and national politics. He had previously worked for The Boston Globe, Time magazine and The Wall Street Journal.

Yang was born in Chillicothe, Ohio, and graduated cum laude from Wesleyan University.

Amy Calvin

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