Since the release of the Sandra Bland dash-cam arrest video, many people have wondered if the video was edited. To the naked untrained eye, it looks like a simple play-by-play version of an unedited video, but professionals who work with editing and directing videos see something totally different.
Ava DuVernay, director of Selma, tweeted that the video was indeed doctored.
https://twitter.com/AVAETC/status/623683526001438720
DuVernay was agreeing with an article posted by journalist Ben Norton, who listed various discrepancies in the video. Norton listed the many instances where editing occurred:
At 32:37, a white car drives into the left side of the frame, then promptly disappears in the middle of the road. Seconds later, the same car drives back into the frame and subsequently turns left. This footage is later looped several times.
A different white car also drives into the left side of the frame and turns left from 32:49 to 32:59. The previous white car again briefly enters the frame at 33:04, and once more at 33:06, yet it suddenly disappears both times. When these cuts are made in the footage, the lights on top of the truck in the center of the frame also abruptly cut out.
At 33:08, the exact same footage from 32:37 is repeated, followed by the same second white car at 33:17.
https://twitter.com/AVAETC/status/623741214852952064https://twitter.com/AVAETC/status/623743780198285313
The Los Angeles Times also reported that it looks as though the video was indeed edited, and pinpointed similar issues with the video.
“In the video, which is more than 52 minutes long, there are several spots where cars and people disappear and reappear. When it released the video, the department did not mention any editing. The audio ends more than a minute before the video images do,” the Los Angeles Times wrote.
This brings up the dubious nature of the Texas Department of Public Safety and the police department involved and the fact that someone is clearly attempting to cover up what actually happened to Sandy Bland.