Sad story: Horrible Cop

[CJ_5256]

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4017382

Wow, I really feel horribly for the Moats family.

[Charlie Brown]

So let me get this straight.

The cop is supposed to sit by and let a car go through a red light. Then when he gets the car to stop, the occupants get out of the car - something you are NOT supposed to do when pulled over. They do not heed the policeman's request to stay in the car and run into the hospital despite what the officer said. Then when the officer gets to the driver, the driver tells him to hurry up?

Why the outrage? If I had ran through a red light, ignored the policeman's advice to stay in the car, then proceeded to tell the officer "Hurry up, I don't have all day". Why would I get angry if the officer was a bit .... ticked off by my attitude?

[Senses Fail]

PLANO, Texas -- A Dallas police officer who delayed Houston Texans' running back Ryan Moats from visiting his mother-in-law before she died in a Plano hospital has been reassigned to dispatch pending an investigation.

Moats, his wife and other family members rushed from their suburban Dallas home to Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano during the early hours of March 18 after getting word around midnight that Moats' mother-in-law, Jonetta Collinsworth, was dying. She had breast cancer.

According to Dallas-area media reports, Moats' vehicle, which rolled through a red light, was stopped by Officer Robert Powell in the hospital's parking lot.

Powell kept Moats and another family member for 13 minutes, threatening Moats with arrest and lecturing him. By the time Moats was released and entered the hospital, Jonetta Collinsworth had died.




Moats

Dallas police have dropped the ticket.

The Moatses, who are black, said Wednesday that they can't help but think that race may have played a role in how Powell, who is white, treated them.

"I think he should lose his job," said Ryan Moats, a Dallas native, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Dallas-Fort Worth television station WFAA-TV also obtained dashboard video from inside Powell's cruiser, detailing the exchange in which Powell threatened Moats with arrest.

When the car was pulled over, Moats' wife, Tamishia Moats, and her great aunt got out of the car to get into the hospital.

"Get in there!" Powell said, according to the Dallas Morning News' account of the footage. "Let me see your hands!"

"My mom is dying," Tamishia Moats replied. She and her great aunt ignored the officer and headed into the hospital, while Ryan Moats and another family member stayed behind, according to the report.

"I waited until no traffic was coming," Moats told Powell, explaining why he had rolled through the red light. "I got seconds before she's gone, man," he said, the newspaper reported.

Powell demanded his license, which Moats produced, and proof of insurance, which Moats could not find. "Just give me a ticket or whatever," Moats said, his frustration beginning to show, according to the report.

"Shut your mouth," Powell told him, the newspaper reported. "You can cooperate and settle down, or I can just take you to jail for running a red light."

In another exchange reported by the Morning News, Moats again asked the officer to complete the traffic stop quickly.

"If you're going to give me a ticket, give me a ticket," Moats said.

"Your attitude says that you need one," Powell replied.

"All I'm asking you is just to hurry up," Moats added.

"If you want to keep this going, I'll just put you in handcuffs," the officer said, "and I'll take you to jail for running a red light."

Powell continued on, making several more points, and Moats replied "Yes sir" to each.

"Understand what I can do," Powell said, according to the report. "I can tow your truck. I can charge you with fleeing. I can make your night very difficult."

"I understand," Moats responded. "I hope you'll be a great person and not do that."

Hospital security guards then arrived and told Powell that the Moatses' relative really was upstairs dying, the newspaper reported. But Powell spent several minutes inside his squad car, checking Moats for outstanding warrants. He found none.

Another hospital staff member emerged from the hospital and spoke with a Plano police officer who had arrived on the scene. "Hey, that's the nurse," the Plano officer told Powell, according to the Morning News. "She said that the mom's dying right now, and she's wanting to know if they can get him up there before she dies."

"All right," Powell replied, according to the report. "I'm almost done."

As Moats signed the ticket, Powell made another point.

"Attitude's everything," he said, the newspaper reported. "All you had to do is stop, tell me what was going on. More than likely, I would have let you go."

Powell, hired in January 2006, did not return a call for comment, the newspaper reported. But Dallas Assistant Chief Floyd Simpson said Powell told police officials that he believed that he was doing his job.

"When people are in distress, we should come to the rescue," Simpson said, according to the report. "We shouldn't further their distress."

This is tough, I have to side with Moats since his a family member died before he could say a final goodbye.

But, there are rules the officer has to follow. It depends on his conscience whether he will accept what they are saying & decide to ticket them later. I'd have to see the tape of what happen before I can say anyone was wrong in this situation. Ive never had a ticket, but my parents told me if you try to rush a officer they will take there sweet time. So I have to keep that in mind, but it is very unfortunate for Mr. Moats & his family.

[tsiguy96]

So let me get this straight.

The cop is supposed to sit by and let a car go through a red light. Then when he gets the car to stop, the occupants get out of the car - something you are NOT supposed to do when pulled over. They do not heed the policeman's request to stay in the car and run into the hospital despite what the officer said. Then when the officer gets to the driver, the driver tells him to hurry up?

Why the outrage? If I had ran through a red light, ignored the policeman's advice to stay in the car, then proceeded to tell the officer "Hurry up, I don't have all day". Why would I get angry if the officer was a bit .... ticked off by my attitude?

because any officer with any decent amount of respect for people would have realized this was a crisis situation, some petty **** like a traffic ticket meant absolutely nothing at this point and time and he should have known it could be dealt with later, especially when hospital security came out.

[Nick]

If you have respect for a cop.. They will go out of their way for you.

He should have stayed in his car and said exactley what is going on... I am sure he would have escorted him there (which is not to far fromt where he was stopped at.

I was in North Dallas and cracked my head against the basketball pole playing street ball .

I was rushing to hospital because of the amount of blood and saw a cop, middle of the road I honked my horn and waived a cop to pull over and did a u turn. Stayed in my car, walked over, told him whats going on... And he escorted me.

If I was a cop and Moats did somthing similar I would teach him the same... You tell me to Hurry and don't listen I will taker my time and so you can listen.

Think you should change the story to Sad Story: Because of Horrible Moats

[RunYouOver]

I can't even believe what I'm reading out of some of you...the guy's mother-in-law was DYING.

This wasn't a matter of respect or no respect for a cop, this was a matter of life-or-death.

And after explaining the situation to the cop, the cop displayed no sympathy.

Some of you are siding with the cop on this??

You're out of your mind.

[Senses Fail]

I can't even believe what I'm reading out of some of you...the guy's mother-in-law was DYING.

This wasn't a matter of respect or no respect for a cop, this was a matter of life-or-death.

And after explaining the situation to the cop, the cop displayed no sympathy.

Some of you are siding with the cop on this??

You're out of your mind.

They all went about this wrong. Moats could of easily said his mother in law is passing, ask the officer to escort & deal with that later. Instead, his wife & aunt got out of the car. How is the officer suppose to respond to that, 100 things could be running through his mind to begin with.

The officer was very rude for making them wait 13 minutes. But Moats attitude probably didnt help the situation. IMO Both sides are at fault in this situation...

[jay who ?]

may i be the 1st to say BULLSHIZZLE ! that cop had to realize that people were dealing with an emergency ...its his job to help not hinder !
this is all apart of the double standard cops have,they run red lights to get lunch...( i know i see it all the time and my dad was a cop for 28 years)
they also drive drunk more than any group ive ever seen cuz they have a free pass when pulled over. its the unwritten code of the brotherhood!
anyway i think its safe to say that those of you who are saying the cop was in the right have probably never been in the situation the moats were in,or you would have done the exact same thing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
as the old saying goes...judge not lest ye be judged

[GridironChamp]

I don't get it...

You guys are saying Ryan Moats should just have said what he was doing...
If you read the article, that is the first thing he told the cop

I know 2 people got out and ran into the hospital, but they also told the cop
why they were going.

The policeman was told like 5 times why they were doing it, and he gave them
a respect speach? Puh-lease.

[tsiguy96]

They all went about this wrong. Moats could of easily said his mother in law is passing, ask the officer to escort & deal with that later. Instead, his wife & aunt got out of the car. How is the officer suppose to respond to that, 100 things could be running through his mind to begin with.

The officer was very rude for making them wait 13 minutes. But Moats attitude probably didnt help the situation. IMO Both sides are at fault in this situation...

lets see one of your family members dying and you get pulled over, how are you gonna react?

[GridironChamp]

If I was a cop and Moats did somthing similar I would teach him the same... You tell me to Hurry and don't listen I will taker my time and so you can listen.

Think you should change the story to Sad Story: Because of Horrible Moats

So, if you got a guy to pull over in front of a hospital,

Two women got out and told you a family member, mother, was dying and then
ran off into the hospital, then when you walked up to the driver he said that
his mother-in-law was dying that you give him a speech about respecting him?

You both deserve to be fired.

[jay who ?]

They all went about this wrong. Moats could of easily said his mother in law is passing, ask the officer to escort & deal with that later. Instead, his wife & aunt got out of the car. How is the officer suppose to respond to that, 100 things could be running through his mind to begin with.

The officer was very rude for making them wait 13 minutes. But Moats attitude probably didnt help the situation. IMO Both sides are at fault in this situation...

what if that 13 minutes were the last you had to spend with say.....your son or daughter ,would you still think the cop was just doing his job? yeah i cal B.S. on you sthink before you write !

[RunYouOver]

They all went about this wrong. Moats could of easily said his mother in law is passing, ask the officer to escort & deal with that later. Instead, his wife & aunt got out of the car. How is the officer suppose to respond to that, 100 things could be running through his mind to begin with.

The officer was very rude for making them wait 13 minutes. But Moats attitude probably didnt help the situation. IMO Both sides are at fault in this situation...

Again, no.

You don't think the VERY first words out of their mouths were "My mother/mother-in-law is dying as we speak I need to get in the hospital? I really think anyone who's criticizing them needs to look at it from a different perspective. This is a family member dying, and just watch this video.

This is disgraceful, and honestly, ANYONE who says Moats is in the wrong here clearly is misjudging the situation.

http://www.dallasnews.com/video/index.html?nvid=345572

[SlyBronco]

The cop still has to do his job, You guys don't understand. As far as the cop knows THEY COULD HAVE BEEN LYING. When she gets out and runs away that is fishy and he has to do his job.

You attack him but seem to forget, he puts his life on the line every time he pulls someone over. A laps in judgment can get him killed.

I don't care who you are, in that situation if the cop doesn't do what that cop did. He's not doing his job.

[SlyBronco]

Again, no.

You don't think the VERY first words out of their mouths were "My mother/mother-in-law is dying as we speak I need to get in the hospital? I really think anyone who's criticizing them needs to look at it from a different perspective. This is a family member dying, and just watch this video.

This is disgraceful, and honestly, ANYONE who says Moats is in the wrong here clearly is misjudging the situation.

http://www.dallasnews.com/video/index.html?nvid=345572

All I seen was a cop doing his job.