http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcon...ies/032609dnmetcopstop.3e9c080.html?nTar=OPUR “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. During the traffic stop, caught on the officer’s in-car camera, Powell berated the driver, 26-year-old NFL running back Ryan Moats, and threatened him with arrest for running a traffic light. Watch the video. This cop could of been a lot more understanding, and helpful to family during family dieing. No excuse for his attitude.
Yup this was just on the local news. The cop has been put on administrative duties or some such thing. Moats understandably wants him fired. Probably not a move I would make but then again I've never missed any mother in law (not even married) of mines death due to anyone else.
I think he was put on administrative leave and they have begun the process of firing him, I guess its not as simple as saying "your fired give me your badge" or something. IMO anytime someone in power says words like "I can screw you over" that should be grounds for firing. It shows a total lack of respect for the person he is dealing with and lack of respect for him position of authority. Very scary to hear those words even when they are deserved, and here it was not. At one point apparently even a hospital guard and 2 nurses came out to verify and were turned away, as was assistance by a local cop (who turned out to be the one who reported the incident). I always wonder if cops sometimes forget about those dashcams.
That cop's gotten used to abusing his badge power, apparently. A while back he pulled over Zach Thomas' wife for an illegal U-turn and jailed her for it. Story and link below. Another allegation has surfaced against the officer who prevented Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats from entering a hospital to see his dying mother-in-law last week. The Dallas Morning News reports that Maritza Thomas, wife of former Cowboys linebacker Zach Thomas, was handcuffed and spent approximately three hours in jail after Dallas officer Robert Powell pulled her over for an illegal U-turn in July 2008. "This in no way compares to what happened to Ryan Moats and his family," Thomas told The Morning News. "But we wanted to tell our story, not knowing how many others have been affected by Officer Powell. We know the vast majority of the Dallas police force are good and professional people, but this guy just seems excessive." Four of the five tickets issued against Maritza Thomas were later dropped including failure to show proof of insurance, running a red light, improper address on driver's license and a registration sticker was not on the windshield. She accepted deferred adjudication for the illegal U-turn charge, and her record will be cleared next month. "This situation never should've happened," Maritza Thomas' attorney, Brody Shanklin told The Morning News. "Unless extraordinary circumstances exist, no person should be arrested for a Class C citation. In this case, it was an example of Officer Powell being overzealous and exerting his authority in a manner that he never should have." http://espn.go.com/nfl/
Just an fyi most of the tickets that were issued and dropped, will usually be dropped if you get the information updated, such as getting the registration sticker updated, getting your insurance updated, etc.
