Officer delays family racing to see dying mom

[whopis01]

Source: WFAA-TV

With his wife and another woman in the car, Ryan Moats — a running back for the Houston Texans — sped his car toward Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano in the early morning hours of March 17. But when the Moats arrived at emergency room parking lot, they were stopped by Officer Robert Powell, who drew his service revolver on the concerned family members.

She and the other woman ignored Officer Powell's commands and rushed inside the hospital to her dying mother as Ryan Moats and Officer Powell went back-and-forth over insurance paperwork the NFL player was unable to locate.

As they argued, the officer got irritated.
POWELL: "Shut your mouth. Shut your mouth. You can either settle down and cooperate, or I can just take you to jail for running a red light."

Finally, after a 20-minute delay, the officer ticketed Moats for running a red light.
By the time Moats made it up to the emergency room, his mother-in-law was dead.

Read more: http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090325_mo_detained.6f8a23c1.html

[madaboutharry]

1. Two things.

There was a study done years ago out in LA where two police officers drove from out in the West San Fernando Valley to downtown Los Angeles. One drove while obeying all the traffic laws and speed limits. The other drove like a maniac; cutting in and out of traffic, speeding, and driving like a jerk. There was something in the neigborhood of about a 4 minute difference in their arrival time. It is just silly to drive stupidly.

The second thing: The cop in this story is an asshole.

[jobycom]

5. The driver in this case stopped at the red light and was waved through by the other car at the light

"The couple, along with Collinsworth’s father and an aunt, jumped into the SUV and headed back toward the hospital. They exited the Dallas North Tollway, just down the street from the hospital.

Moats turned on his hazard lights. He stopped at a red light, where, he said, the only nearby motorist signaled for him to go ahead. He went through.

Powell, watching traffic from a hidden spot, flipped on his lights and sirens. In less than a minute, he caught up to the SUV and followed for about 20 more seconds as Moats found a parking spot outside the emergency room."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032609dnmetcopstop.3e9c080.html

Not exactly most people's definition of reckless driving.

[AlexDeLarge]

39. Let's see,

I'm betting that the driver was black and the officer was white. In Dallas, too. I bet if it had been a white male, it wouldn't have been an issue. DWBID (In Dallas).

[jobycom]

40. Cop would still have pulled him over

But then would have rushed him and his family into the hospital to help out, rather than picking a fight with him for twenty minutes to teach him a lesson about being uppity.

[AnneD]

72. They are a charming group....

and you don't even have to be black to be treated badly.

[whopis01]

55. You are correct about the driving...

however under those conditions, logical, calm thinking tends to go out the window.

[Name removed]

70. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[sasquatch]

2. Shouldn't live/die in the South

[jobycom]

6. I guess up North they just shoot you instead. Much better. nt

[sasquatch]

10. No, we use our brains and find a solution

[WriteDown]

12. Is this strip search using their brains or something else?

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=3824600n

[sasquatch]

13. Hey at least up here we do something

[WriteDown]

16. True enough...

:) Even this officer in the story is somewhat justified in his actions. I strongly emphasize "somewhat" though. Especially considering the unbelievable amount of uninsured drivers we have in this area.

[sasquatch]

20. Wait a minute that happened in Floriduh, you just proved my point

[WriteDown]

21. No, the 2nd video is the strip search in OH. nt

[sasquatch]

24. I still stick to my opinion then

[WriteDown]

27. Okay, I'm confused...

So its better to be strip searched and left naked in a cell for 6 hours after you are the one who called the police? Very confused.

[NashVegas]

29. Not Remotely

Justified to delay Moats briefly, yes.

But when you're outside a hospital emergency room, human decency is supposed to over-rule City Hall's need for a $70 traffic fine. Someone's family is dying, you give them a fucking break.

[WriteDown]

31. Yes, because he couldn't possibly be driving into a

hospital as a means of escape. :shrug: Its definitely a possibility that has be entertained.

The guy is an idiot and should lose his badge for his actions, but I can see how the incident BEGAN. That's all.

edited for clarity.

[Ken Burch]

43. Who escapes into a hospital?

n/t.

[sasquatch]

58. Sick people

[jobycom]

14. Is that what you call shooting a man 41 times for pulling out a wallet?

Or shooting a groom the night before his wedding in a hail of bullets, or beating a man to death for being in the wrong neighborhood... That's a pretty naive view to take. These stories come from all over the nation, not just the South. Not even predominately from the South.

[sasquatch]

17. Yeah, but which has greater odds of being bad, living in the south or the north

[jobycom]

19. Um, what?

Not sure what you were trying to ask, but I hear more stories of cops shooting innocent people, especially non-whites, from the north than from the south, so if you are asking about odds, clearly the north is at least as bad as the south. I think worse, but that's my own experience.

[WriteDown]

28. I've lived in both places and they're probably about even...

Both have bad spots. For instance, you wouldn't want to be walking in certain sections of Detroit late at night, nor would you want to do the same in New Orleans.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

54. Living in Flint, Michigan or Asheville, NC? I'm voting for Asheville.

[sasquatch]

57. Yeah, but that's the exception that proves the rule. For now

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

59. Hmm Detroit, MI or Charleston, SC? I'm going with Charleston.

[sasquatch]

60. I'd go with Detriot, SC is hell on earth, ask a Marine if you don't believe me

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

61. Charleston is a wonderful town.

I was stationed elsewhere in SC. It's not my favorite state.

David

[Rebubula]

25. My...

...what a positively ignorant and flame-baiting statement.

I guess it is all puppies, rainbows and consensual group sex up North where cops are always helpful and polite???

Sheesh....

[rambler_american]

32. Not too sure about

the puppies and rainbows, but the consensual group sex is awesome.
Oh wait. That was on the internet. Nevermind.

[qanda]

3. That tape is appalling

I'm just glad he didn't shoot the two women in the back as they were going in the hospital.

[hedgehog]

4. The cop car nearly hits two cars while racing through the intersection

against the red light.

[blue_onyx]

7. "I can screw you over"

The job of a cop isn't to screw people over. He should lose his job for that statement alone.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

8. In contrast; when I ran out of gas on my way to visit my MIL

who was in the hospital in grave condition; Mr GoG got out to walk a mile back to the nearest phone (this was in the pre-cellphone days). A MD State cop pulled up behind us to make sure we were ok, called for a truck to come out and give me enough gas to get to the hospital, then he drove back to pick up my husband, and drove him back to us.

Mr GoG was able to see his mom for the last time. She passed away the next day.

The cop didn't have to do that. He could have left us there.

[qanda]

15. I also had a good experience when I went into labor

A cop gave us a personal escort to the hospital and wished us luck as he went on his way. Not all cops are hung up on power or ego trips.

[Stephanie]

18. I'm going to guess you weren't DWB

[GoddessOfGuinness]

26. I wasn't...Should I have been?

My county cops are scummy towards everyone regardless of gender, race, or sexual orientation. It was refreshing to meet a state cop who treated us like we were human beings.

[SkyDaddy7]

9. Police in this country are

POWER ADDICTS!

[go west young man]

11. The video proves one thing for sure... that cops an ass.

[winyanstaz]

22. One bad apple spoils the barrel.....

This officer needs to lose his badge and job now..this is not the way officers should be treating law abiding people and I do believe the young man was trying to be law abiding under a very extreme emergency to his family. Yes indeed, losing a love one IS an emergency that effects the intire family involved.
This officers careless and unfeeling and hateful attitude has deeply scared this family during a time of tragedy.
This asshole just made other cops look bad with his uncaring and smart ass attitude to someone is such a tragic circumstance.
There are a lot of wonderful and good and caring police officers out there working their hearts out and laying their lives on the line to protect and SERVE a community and the American people.
Its a damned shame when one among them does things like this that actually put their fellow officers in danger. When a community learns to hate its officers, that puts the officers in danger.
It is people like this uncaring and nasty attitude officer that reflect on the good name and efforts of the honorable police officers and cause the public to have problems and attitudes toward all police. This is not good nor fair for the police that do their job correctly nor for the community as a whole.

[qanda]

23. Great post

[ejpoeta]

30. i can't help but wonder.... if the football player was white..... would the

treatment be any different??? i mean, couldn't the officer have followed the guy up to the hospital room or something. it is ridiculous. give the guy a ticket, but let him go to his loved ones bedside!!

[NashVegas]

33. Bad Title on the OP. The ACTUAL Article: Chief: Officer's Behavior at Hospital 'very embarrassing'

Perhaps they changed it?

Dallas police Chief David Kunkle faced reporters Thursday afternoon to express his embarrassment over the incident and to publicly apologize to the family. He said the officer involved failed to use common sense.

[christx30]

41. The link I clicked on

when I first saw the story on CNN.com said "Cop delays son racing to see dying mom"

[No Elephants]

66. "Embarrassing?" Seems like more than embarrassing.

[Gormy Cuss]

34. "His belief was simply that he was doing his job,"

"My understanding is that Officer Powell — even after he saw the videotape — believed he had not acted inappropriately," Chief Kunkle said, a view that was underscored by Assistant Chief Floyd Simpson, who reviewed the tape with Officer Powell on Wednesday.

"His belief was simply that he was doing his job," Chief Simpson said. "It did concern me that it just seemed that the compassion was not there."

At least the brass aren't ignoring the bad behavior.

I feel sorry for the family. It's true that unsafe driving is never a good idea but emotions run high when one gets such news. They didn't need the cop's bad attitude on top of it.

[Ken Burch]

44. I'm guessing Deputy Dan was one ticket short of his quota for the month

When your free box 'o donuts is on the line, sometimes you get a little aggressive.

:sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

62. I guess Moats is lucky he didn't get shot or arrested. n/t

[Wizard777]

35. OMG! This guy is actually worse than the Baltimore Officer that will be forever known as "Dude"

I agree with the comments. He should be fired.

[FailureToCommunicate]

36. DWB - seen it, know it, hate it.

[Xithras]

37. The cop was in the right up until that nurse came out.

Police are not, and should not be, under any obligation to waive punishment for a crime simply because the accused person gives a good excuse. That's what judges are for.

Once the nurse came out and confirmed that the mother in law was dying, however, the police officer should have either let him go, or cited him and delivered the ticket later. Once the nurse came out and asked the officer to let him go, and the officer refused, the cop went from doing his job to being a belligerent ass.

[RamboLiberal]

45. And where the heck does "common sense" fit in to your equation?

Hell, if he wanted to the cop could've followed them in to the hospital and confirmed the story, not waited for the nurse to come out. The cop was an IDIOT and probably a racist IDIOT at that!

I hope you are not a police chief or a cop.

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle....“His behavior in my opinion, did not exhibit the common sense, discretion, the compassion that we expect our officers to exhibit,” the chief told a packed audience of media outlets that included Inside Edition....

At one point during today’s news conference, Kunkle seemed to restrain himself from being even more candid with his views on the incident.

“When we in the command staff reviewed the tapes,” he said, “we were embarrassed, disappointed — it’s hard to find the right words and still be professional in my role as a police chief.”

The chief also praised Moats and his family for how they handled the officer’s behavior.

“They exercised extraordinary patience, restraint, dealing with the behavior of our officer,” Kunkle said. “At no time did Mr. Moats identify himself as an NFL football player or expect any kind of special consideration. He handled himself very, very well.”

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032609dnmetcopstop.3e9c080.html

[dkofos]

38. Have the rules changed?? Since when have the Dallas cops been

given permission to threaten people in Plano??

I might be in the hospital (or morgue) if that had been me.

[christx30]

42. In light of

this incident and the tragedy in Oakland, I would like to offer this idea. Everyone needs to just take a few moments and just relax. Cops need to stop being assholes, just like criminals do. People that hate cops will point to this as an example of why people hate police officers. People that are tough on crime will point to Mixon as reasons why criminals need to be relentless chased and shot.
I hate to use the cliche, but we can all just get along. But it takes every individual not acting like an asshole to make that happen. There needs to be a PSA from the Ad Council: Don't be an asshole.
Cops, stop doing that ego/power trip thing. Criminals, stop raping and killing people. Each side holds the fate of society in their hands. Don't blow it.

[RamboLiberal]

46. Picture of Officer Robert Powell

Perhaps he should be ex-officer!

[Liberal_in_LA]

63. Power crazy thug

[oberliner]

47. Dallas officer delayed NFL player as relative died

Source: AP

DALLAS (AP) — A police officer was placed on administrative leave Thursday over a traffic stop involving an NFL player whom he kept in a hospital parking lot and threatened to arrest while his mother-in-law died inside the building.

Officer Robert Powell also drew his gun during the March 18 incident involving Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats in the Dallas suburb of Plano, police said.

"I can screw you over," he said at one point in the videotaped incident. When another officer came with word that Moats' mother-in-law was indeed dying, Powell's response was: "All right. I'm almost done."


Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jEHMM2cHtAsutbVufkJ2FQ08pZcgD975VHJ81

---

Video of this incident can be found in various locations online.

[BlooInBloo]

48. Fuck the state-sponsored domestic terrorists are evil excuses for people.

[Iggo]

49. Yay, cops!

They are soooooo cool!

Yay!

[MannyGoldstein]

50. Moats' Fault For DWB n/t

[lifesbeautifulmagic]

51. A close friend of mine,

formerly of Dallas about 15 years ago, has nothing good to say about the DPF. Reminds of the worst stuff I heard about the police in LA. Horrible.

[rainbow4321]

52. Dallas police chief apologizes , officer placed on paid administrative leave

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032609dnmetcopstop.3e9c080.html

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle stood in front of a dozen news cameras this afternoon at police headquarters to apologize for the behavior of an officer who stopped a family outside a hospital emergency room.

Kunkle said Officer Robert Powell has been placed on paid administrative leave in connection with an incident last week in which he stopped a family rushing to visit a dying mother, detaining them for 13 minutes to write a traffic ticket.

“His behavior in my opinion, did not exhibit the common sense, discretion, the compassion that we expect our officers to exhibit,” the chief told a packed audience of media outlets that included Inside Edition

At one point during today’s news conference, Kunkle seemed to restrain himself from being even more candid with his views on the incident.“When we in the command staff reviewed the tapes,” he said, “we were embarrassed, disappointed — it’s hard to find the right words and still be professional in my role as a police chief.”

[gabby garcia]

74. Dallas police chief apologizes , officer placed on "paid vacation"

fixed.

[rainbow4321]

53. Officer's myspace: waiting for "this to blow over"

Guess he still thinks he did no wrong...

http://www.myspace.com/powellrob2002

AND from his Xanga blog:

http://powellrob2002.xanga.com/


You drink, You drive, You rear end another car, You dont speak english, You smell like alcohol, You cant stand up straight, You cant walk a straight line, You go to jail!!!
---------
Well that little sentence says it all...asshole.

[Ken Burch]

64. He shut down the Xanga blog.

n/t.

[christx30]

56. According to the local news here in Austin

The Dallas police force has started the paperwork to have the officer terminated.

[Ken Burch]

65. Christ knows what the guy will do in two months or so when he becomes a mall cop

n/t.

[christx30]

68. Better a mall cop

than someone that has a gun and the power to shoot you if you are less than cooperative.
Less power to these people.

[Crabby Appleton]

69. Fire that piece of shit powell

what a punk

[No Elephants]

67. If left on the force, this guy is very likely to shoot and/or brutalize at least one

person who is totally innocent, maybe a fellow cop.

[AnneD]

71. When the Nurse came out to plead for the guy....

AND another officer-the policeman in question should have let it go. He had poor people skills and no common sense.

[rainbow4321]

73. Radio interview with the driver

http://www.1053thefan.com/pages/4090798.php

[gabby garcia]

75. I can only wish for an insanely painful tattoo removal for this asswipe

http://www.myspace.com/powellrob2002