cop stops nfl player from seeing dying mother in law

[fishjie]

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

DALLAS — Racing to see his dying mother-in-law at a Plano hospital, an NFL player found himself delayed by a Dallas officer as her life ebbed away. It's a story that has sparked outrage across North Texas and generated interest around the country.

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.

It all started in the early morning hours of March 17. 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. But when the Moats arrived at the emergency room parking lot, they were stopped by Officer Robert Powell, who reportedly drew his service revolver on the concerned family members.

Dashcam video from the Dallas officer's patrol car captured the incident.

"Get in there," Officer Powell yelled out to Tamishia Moats, Ryan's wife, as she exited the car. "Let me see your hands. Get in there. Put your hands on the car."

"Excuse me; my mom is dying," Tamisha Moats replied.

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.

MOATS: "I've got seconds before she's gone, man."

POWELL: "Listen: If I can't verify you have insurance..."

MOATS: "My mother-in-law is dying!"

POWELL: "Listen to me."

MOATS: "Right now, you're wasting my time."

POWELL: "If you can't verify you have insurance, I'm going to tow your car. So, you either find it or I am going to tow the car."

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."


Dallas PD
The tape shows a nurse coming out of the hospital, pleading with Officer Powell to let Moats join his wife and her dying mother inside..
"I certainly hope anybody who saw the videotape immediately understood how serious the misconduct is," Chief Kunkle said Thursday afternoon. "I don't know how you train for these circumstances other than to hire people with good common sense and people skills."

In a telephone interview, Moats said the clash with the officer was totally unexpected. "For him to not even be sympathetic at all, and basically we're dogs or something and we don't matter — it basically shocked me," he said.

No compassion was indicated in the police recording of the incident. "I can screw you over," Officer Powell said. "I would rather not do that. You obviously will dictate everything that happens; and right now, your attitude sucks."

"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."

The hospital twice sent nurses to try and get the officer to release Moats.

"We're blue-coding her for the third time," a nurse said on the police videotape.

A Plano police officer stopped to make a plea for the officer to let Moats go. "Hey, that's the nurse," the Plano officer said. "She says the mom is dying right now, and she wants to know if I can get him up there."

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.

"I went up after she passed and held her hand, but she was already gone," Moats said in a telephone interview.

Dallas police have launched a review of the incident.

“When it came to our attention, we immediately called for an internal investigation to be done,” said police spokesman Lt. Andy Havey.

"The essence of being a police officer is common sense and discretion," Chief Kunkle added. "I can't imagine a worse circumstance."

WFAA.com has received more than 400 comments about the incident since the story first aired on Channel 8 Wednesday night.

discuss

edit: oh and guess the races lol

 

[devilhunterred]

Surprise. American police brutality.

 

[Annex]

Where did he run a red light? How did the officer know that he ran a red light?

 

[BARBEERIAN]

discuss

edit: oh and guess the races lol

Tamisha... hmmmm, gonna go out on a limb and guess she's Chinese

Anyway, ya it's kind of messed up not letting him in to see her when the nurse even came out to plead. Taking 20 minutes to finally write the citation is pretty ridiculous on the cops part. However, the fact that a relative is dying doesn't make driving rules and regulations irrelevant. In the eyes of the law the cop was probably in the right (for the most part, only part might be the 20 minutes), but of course in the court of public opinion he'll be Satan of the week.

Also, the chief only apologized because it's a PR nightmare.

 

[Formaldehyde]

At least nobody got shot, tasered or assassinated. It sounds like Dallas may be slowly improving with time...

 

[fishjie]

Surprise. American police brutality.

now normally i hate police, but i'll play devil's advocate and say the cop was just doing his thing, UNTIL the nurse came out and backed up the story of the NFL player. cause really, i'm sure cops hear the excuse "omg my friend/family is dying i had to speed" all the time. of course, once you got nurses backing up a person's story, at that point the cop's just being a dick for the sake of being a dick. he's going "lalalala" look at me i have power i can screw you over.

on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of cop douchebaggery, 10 being shooting a guy in oakland whose in handcuffs while he's lying face down on the ground, and a 1 giving me a speeding ticket, i'd rate this one .... a 6.

 

[Annex]

Well first of all, let me just say the reporting on this story is complete (pardon my expletives) Only the sensational parts of the story are included. They did make out the officer as completely idiotic, and this may be the case. But Im not ready to start saying "OMG Police Brutality!!111oneone"

 

[Bigfoot3814]

Surprise. American police brutality.

This is what's called brutality? He kept him from his mother in law, but he didn't beat her over the head with a flashlight or anything.

 

[Mathilda]

POWELL: "If you can't verify you have insurance, I'm going to tow your car. So, you either find it or I am going to tow the car."

MOATS: Ok, go ahead. I've got more important things to worry about atm.

- problem solved

[/devil's advocate 2]

 

[Formaldehyde]

MOATS: Ok, go ahead. I've got more important things to worry about atm.

- problem solved

[/devil's advocate 2]

Except for all this:

"Get in there," Officer Powell yelled out to Tamishia Moats, Ryan's wife, as she exited the car. "Let me see your hands. Get in there. Put your hands on the car."

"Excuse me; my mom is dying," Tamisha Moats replied.

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.

The hospital twice sent nurses to try and get the officer to release Moats.

"We're blue-coding her for the third time," a nurse said on the police videotape.

Watch the videotape.

http://www.wfaa.com/video/featured-index.html?nvid=345766

If he had tried to leave without getting the ticket and signing for it, he would have been arrested. And the cop clearly took his own sweet time doing so. He even kept lecturing him afterwards. He deserves to be buried underneath his own jail.

http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?nvid=345864

I don't know how to train for circumstances like this other than to hire people with common sense and good people skills.

No kidding...

 

[JerichoHill]

There's no excuse for the officer's lack of common sense.

Police normally make exceptions for speeding / red lights for birth or death.

 

[Elta]

Cops are jerks.

I was under the impression that this was common knowledge.

 

[Narz]

cop stops nfl player from seeing dying mother in law

That's messed up, if my mother in law was dying I would want to see!

At least nobody got shot, tasered or assassinated. It sounds like Dallas may be slowly improving with time...

 

[Labtec600]

Think it was pretty crappy on the Chiefs part to throw the officer to the wolves so fast.

This whole thing could have been avoided if the guy would have stopped arguing with the cop and been done with it. The cop doesnt know whats going on, he just stopped someone for flying down the road and running red lights.

Officer could have though just walked in with them to confirm their story.

 

[Perfection]

Cops are jerks.

I was under the impression that this was common knowledge.

It is, but it still needs constant reiteration so that people realize the amazing extant of that truth.

 

[Bamspeedy]

Not exactly the same thing, but...

Someone in my area got a speeding ticket for speeding to the emergency room. "Common sense" is not speeding to the emergency room yourself but to call an ambulance. By speeding they increase the chances of causing yet another accident and causing even further harm to themselves or others, and the same goes for the story in the OP if the guy really did run through a red light.

 

[Narz]

Not exactly the same thing, but...

Someone in my area got a speeding ticket for speeding to the emergency room. "Common sense" is not speeding to the emergency room yourself but to call an ambulance. By speeding they increase the chances of causing yet another accident and causing even further harm to themselves or others, and the same goes for the story in the OP if the guy really did run through a red light.

Depends how far away the nearest hospital is & how far away the nearest ambulance is.

 

[Gogf]

Not exactly the same thing, but...

Someone in my area got a speeding ticket for speeding to the emergency room. "Common sense" is not speeding to the emergency room yourself but to call an ambulance. By speeding they increase the chances of causing yet another accident and causing even further harm to themselves or others, and the same goes for the story in the OP if the guy really did run through a red light.

No it's not. Ambulances don't always come as quickly as you seem to think.

 

[JollyRoger]

The cop doesnt know whats going on,

Except for the guy being in front of a hospital and telling him what was going on. If the guy had only acted more like a food finder than a looter, everything would have been cool.

 

[GoodGame]

Insensitive, but emergencies don't give you diplomatic immunity; Still needed to be escorted by emergency people.
Take out the "NFL" and replace it with Joe Schmoe, and do you really think Joe Schmoe should be allowed to get out of tickets?

EDIT: Pulling a gun on someone seems a bit unreasonable, especially in the parking lot of an ER though. Would have taken little prudence to verify that the person they knew really was in the hospital.