Reply With QuoteIf the cop didn't believe him, he should have went into the hospital to verify.
WHAT A TOOL!!! (The cop, that is.)
If I were Ryan Moats, I would have told the cop where he could "stick it" and proceeded into the hospital.
The officer was right-He was just doing his job.
The football player-He made the crisis clear to the officer
It was just a big misunderstanding;The cop did not know the severity of the situation.
Texas cop stops NFL player from seeing dying mother
A traffic stop that detained an NFL player in a hospital parking lot despite his pleas that his mother-in-law was dying is sparking outrage across the country.
Officer Robert Powell pulled over Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats' sport utility vehicle outside Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano as he and his relatives were hurrying to see his dying mother-in-law on March 18.
Callers are tying up 911 lines to complain about the stop.
Police are asking people to stop calling 911 to sound off about the incident, because the calls are keeping dispatchers from responding to emergencies.
People are also calling the police department directly -- some from as far away as Lansdale, Pa., Washington, D.C., and New York City.
Dallas police estimated Thursday night they are getting about 150 calls per hour.
Video from a dashboard camera inside the officer's vehicle revealed an intense exchange in which the officer threatened to jail Moats.
He ordered Moats' wife, Tamishia Moats, to get back in the SUV, but she ignored him and rushed inside the hospital.
She was by the side of Jonetta Collinsworth, 45, when her mother died a short time later.
Collinsworth had breast cancer.
"Get in there," said Powell, yelling at 27-year-old Tamishia Moats, as she exited the car. "Let me see your hands!"
"Excuse me, my mom is dying," Tamishia Moats said. "Do you understand?"
Moats explained that he waited until there was no traffic before proceeding through the red light and that his mother-in-law was dying, right then.
Moats couldn't find his insurance paperwork and was desperate to leave.
"Listen, if I can't verify you have insurance...," Powell said.
"My mother-in-law is dying," Moats interrupted.
As they argued, the officer got irritated.
"Shut your mouth," Powell said. "You can either settle down and cooperate, or I can just take you to jail for running a red light."
At one point during the stop, a nurse walked out from the hospital and talked to a guard.
The guard walked up to Powell and can be heard saying, "Hey, that's the nurse, she said that the mom is dying right now. And she's the one saying get him up there right now before she passes."
On the video, Powell can be heard saying, "All right. OK, I'm almost done."
Powell can be seen walking toward Moats and handing him the ticket.
"Attitude is everything, OK?" he is heard saying. "All you had to do was stop and tell me what was going on, more than likely, I would have let you go."
By the time the 26-year-old NFL player received a ticket and a lecture from Powell, at least 13 minutes had passed.
When he and Collinsworth's father entered the hospital, they learned she was dead, the Dallas Morning News reported in Thursday's editions.
Police Chief David Kunkle said Thursday that Powell, 25, will be placed on leave with pay pending an internal investigation over the March 18 incident.
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Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.
Emma Bull
If the cop didn't believe him, he should have went into the hospital to verify.
WHAT A TOOL!!! (The cop, that is.)
If I were Ryan Moats, I would have told the cop where he could "stick it" and proceeded into the hospital.
CRAP - -- - they drive criminals in for last visit - i know that..... the cop was wrong - he could have gone along.,,, no mom should die alone....
oh if it was me? i would have probably have been arrested for what i woudl have said to him
the cop was just doing his job. seeing the video the football player was not listening to law enforcement. he wasn't calm. he was yelling at the officer. cops have to address the situation. the football player ran a red light. i don't mean to sound cruel but his mother-in-law wasn't being transported to the hospital in his SUV. the cops was right to calm the situation. the cop would have been right to take the football player to jail. the player was disorderly and he did run a red light. the first job of any officer is to calm the situation. the football player wasn't calm. he was disrespectful to law enforcement and took no responsibility for his actions. football players should be role models. when did it become ok for them to be law breakers? it is sad that someone's life is lost. news said she had cancer for a while. i might feel different if it was a sudden heart attack with the patient in the SUV. i saw a guy buzz a red light, cops chased him two blocks, when the mother took their child out of their car at the ER, the cop put his hand out to the family. the guy was calm to the officer in an emergency. i felt the football player was too cocky to the cop in the video.
This was a crisis situation. The kind in which most of can NOT stay "calm" and "rational" and the police are supposed to exercise good judgement meaning the officer could have followed the guy to the hospital to see if he was telling the truth or not and this exact kind of verification HAS been done by officers who THINK.Originally Posted by Tree_hugger29
Sure, this is a "it made the news because its a celebrity case" but there is no nationwide "ganging up" on police officers;Its just that there are so many stories about bad cops that is sadly groups the good and decent cops (with a conscience) with those who disgrace their authority regarding the way they treat those they've sworn "to protect and serve" and I'm NOT talking about your average scum of the earth filthy violent criminal;Just regular people.
Media hype aside, try-just try putting yourself in the driver's position for a minute and wonder if you'd remain "calm, cool" and "collected" showing 1000% "respect to the badge" if it were someone very close to you at death's door and you were being prevented from being by their side.
***News stories about bad cops that DO make the news thanks to the internet, cellphone cameras and other electronic gizmos.
Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.
Emma Bull
question asked who was right? i wrote who was right. if i would have known you'd argue someone writing something you don't agree with i would not have written a reply.
Actually the poll should have read was the cop right or was he wrong. Moats complied with the officers requests by remaining at the vehicle regardless of what transpired verbally.question asked who was right? i wrote who was right. if i would have known you'd argue someone writing something you don't agree with i would not have written a reply.
It reminds me of a video I had of a Kentucky State Trooper I used when I was a Verbal Judo trainer. Similar situation except the husband was driving his wife to the hospital. She was having a heart attack. The video shows the trooper chastising the driver for "driving like a maniac," instead of assessing what was wrong and taking steps to get her to the hospital.
That said, it may not be that simple either. The cops on this MB will tell you that traffic guys look at the world a whole lot differently than beat cops in terms of discretion and big picture.
Who knows what this was but it sure could have been handled differently.
b.b.
Good grief. Are you serious?
Running a red light takes precedence for you over someones dying mother? ? ?At one point during the stop, a nurse walked out from the hospital and talked to a guard.
The guard walked up to Powell and can be heard saying, "Hey, that's the nurse, she said that the mom is dying right now. And she's the one saying get him up there right now before she passes."
On the video, Powell can be heard saying, "All right. OK, I'm almost done."
Dear god I hope your not in a position of authority any where.
Football players are people. Part of the problem with society now is to many people try to emulate sports figures actors singers etc.
They aren't role models, they are entertainers. Most arent even half baked. Puuuuullllllleeeeaaase.
Last edited by steven; March 28th, 2009 at 03:32 AM.
People who wonder if the glass is half empty or full miss the point. The glass is refillable.
You have got to be kidding me......Your statement makes me as sick as the cops actions in Dallas.
Calm down the situation......OK..pulling a gun on this family is calming down a situation...holding this guy 13 minutes after knowing his mother in law was in fact dying from not only a nurse, but also the Plano police department.......
If you are ill for a while death is different? Sudden heart attack...cancer.
YOU NEED HELP
The police officer was wrong imo to detain the couple once he learned of the circumstances. I wonder if it would have made a difference the Moats had his emergency flashers on.
Jesus Christ, all you ever do is look for the Union label, huh?
Your position at the Union has corrupted you basic human principles.
He wasn't calm, you say? Would you be calm if your mother was dying?
i never expected so many insults from just one opinion. the question asked who was right. the football player ran a red light. he was not calm. the cop did what he had to do with an irate person. i want to restate i do think it's sad someone's life was lost. if he had his dying mother-in-law in the vehicle when he pulled up to the hospital i said i would feel differently about the officer. the mother-in-law was already in the hospital. the football player was not calm. the officer was right.
No he was not right.
The officer could have followed the couple to the hospital and (petty as it may sound) have checked out his story.
Cops have been given reasons why people speed and commit other traffic offenses after pulling them over and have CHECKED OUT THEIR STORY.
How do I know? It happened to my Mom in Tonawanda who was speeding a bit to the doctor's office. Pulled over, told the cops why the rush and they actually followed her car to the parking lot and watched her go into her doctor's office.
And loathe as I am to say this, I do not fully blame the cops for verifying my Mom's story just as this Texas yahoo with a badge could have followed them to the hospital and like a decent human being, forgotten about his running the red light.
Who knows? Maybe the officer was jealous of a successful celebrity and wanted to enjoy giving him a hard time?
What's CLEAR is that this policeman exercised BAD judgment and "he was just doing his job" is unacceptable in this case.
Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.
Emma Bull
Personally? Given MY *own* circumstances, if it were my dad, I never would have stopped in the first place. Whaty they gonna do? shoot me? Go for it. I have already put my life on the line 2x now (literally), gonna shoot me cause I ran into a hospital? Knock yourself out.
However, I do not condone breaking the law. But, in a situationb such as this *I* never would have stopped until I reached the door of the hospital, then I'd run in... Sure, give me a ticket for running the light. My dads last breath wouldnt be spent alone.
In my OWN situation, I would not have stopped, and would have made it to the bed side if it killed me due to a gun shot wound.
Willful ignorance is the downfall of every major empire in history.
"Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun." - Mao, 1938
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