Officer Robert Powell Delayed Texans Runningback Ryan Moats, Wife as Mother-in-law Jonetta Collinsworth Died in Hospital

UPDATE

Officer Powell has issued an apology, which I consider very suspect, since he initially said he did nothing wrong. Here's the apology in its entirety:

Dallas police Officer Robert Powell released an apology Friday through his attorneys:

"I wish to publicly and sincerely apologize to the Moats family, my colleagues in the Dallas Police Department, and to all those who have been rightfully angered by my actions on March 18, 2009. After stopping Mr. Moats' vehicle, I showed poor judgment and insensitivity to Mr. Moats and his family by my words and actions. With great remorse I accept my responsibility for adding to their grief in an already difficult time.

"I have attempted to reach Mr. Moats to express my personal condolences directly to his family and my regret about my actions. While these efforts have been unsuccessful so far, I hope we can talk soon.

"Again, I am very sorry for what I did and ask for the forgiveness of all those touched by these unfortunate events."

As far as I am concerned, he should be fired. They ought to stop hiding behind the fact that he is a rookie and stop telling us that he is a family man. If he were a true family man he would understand the situation Mr. Moats and his family faced.

This is a case of racial profiling and nothing else. 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. He should be suspended pending an investigation. According to media reports, Moats, his wife, Tamishia Moats, and other family members were en route to Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano in the early hours of March 18th after being notified that his mother-in-law, Jonetta Collinsworth was dying. The vehicle reportedly rolled through a red light and was stopped by Officer Robert Powell in the hospital's parking lot. Okay, so since he stopped them in the hospital parking lot, a light should have come on after they apprised him of the situation. You see, Ms. Collinsworth wasn't on Officer Powell's schedule, she was on God's.

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, Ms. Collinsworth had died. Dallas police have dropped the ticket. How noble of them. Of course, I am being sarcastic. I have to wonder if the Moats weren't black that the outcome would have been very different and the treatment at the hands of Officer Powell, who is white, would have been more cordial and less accusatory.

Thankfully, 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. You see, the whole incident would have been shrugged off as the Moats being in the wrong and the officer correct in his actions.

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."

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." Source: ESPN

This is a low-down dirty shame that this officer deliberately blocked the Moats from seeing this woman before she died. Officer Powell had a right to stop this guy, but he had no right to treat him that way, especially after it come corroborated that they were rushing to see Ms. Collinsworth before she died. Since when do you go to jail for running a red light? This officer was callously and deliberately stalled the couple.

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