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Ryan Moats detained by police at gunpoint while mother-in-law dies ins (1 Viewer)

TheLem said:
Fellas,I personally know JamestheScot.You can't find a better gentlemen than him. In fact, he and I have argued so many times about police and overstepping their bounds and he takes the public's side and right to privacy every time. Lost on the ignorant rants of those who think JamestheScot is racist, a powell supporter, etc. in all this, is what he is really trying to say...and I agree with him.Don't buy the media hype but think for yourself.A cop sees 3 traffic violations and people hopping out of a car. Sure, it's close to a hospital, so that is to be a free pass? If so, i'm gonna rob a bank and then ditch my car near the local H.this sounds like "home base" in the kids game of "tag". I guess that's a safe zone.the cop acted like a tool and could've handled much better from that point on.but, so could have Moats.JTS doesn't disagree that powell is a tool. I've talked with him face to face about this.what he is saying is that he wasn't a tool from the very beginning.
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All this is well and good, but I don't understand that when nurses come out of the hospital verifying the MIL is dying RIGHT NOW, and another POLICE OFFICER is telling him to let Moats go, he completely ignores this and still takes his time. This makes absolutely no sense - I don't think there's any possible way you can justify that.
 
Christo said:
AhrnCityPahnder said:
Christo said:
You don't know this guy at all. But you're not willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because of your perceptions. That says just as much about you as it does him.
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No, it doesnt.
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Of course it does. Without knowing anything about the cop or his motives he proclaims him to be a racist. That's just as much a knee-jerk reaction as the cop made.
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The initial reaction? sure. The situations are not even remotely comparable after that. We're sitting aound BS'ing on the internet throwing out opinions. There's little to no consequence for a knee jerk reaction here. The cop, in spite of overwhelming evidence from everyone on the scene (The Moats famliy, trained medical professionals and fellow officers) that he was letting his knee jerk reaction make him act like a complete ####### ########, continued on with his plan and kept a man from being by a family members side as they passed. There's nothing that anyone can type on an internet forum that can damn them as much as this officers actions have damned him.
 
A win again ov said:
I'd sue for some kind of reason.
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Waste of time and money. There is no Sec. 1983 violation here. The cop is just another typical ahole cop who did what ahole cops do all the time, he just did it to a NFL player while that player's mother-in-law was dying...and it was all caught on video.The national outrage is more shocking to me than the behavior of the police officer.
 
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Here's another recent case along the same lines. The police officer wouldn't let the driver continue on to hospital after pulling him over for expired plates, despite the fact that his mother had stopped breathing, and the hospital was less than a mile away. She died in the car.
 
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Maurile Tremblay said:
Here's another recent case along the same lines. The police officer wouldn't let the driver continue on to hospital after pulling him over for expired plates, despite the fact that his mother had stopped breathing, and the hospital was less than a mile away. She died in the car.
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Sorry...but that isn't even close to the same lines. IN the Moats incident, the cops actions did NOT in any way endanger anybody. Horrible judgement, but NOT lawsuit material.
 
renesauz said:
Maurile Tremblay said:
Here's another recent case along the same lines. The police officer wouldn't let the driver continue on to hospital after pulling him over for expired plates, despite the fact that his mother had stopped breathing, and the hospital was less than a mile away. She died in the car.
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Sorry...but that isn't even close to the same lines. IN the Moats incident, the cops actions did NOT in any way endanger anybody. Horrible judgement, but NOT lawsuit material.
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:cry:
 
renesauz said:
JerseyEagles said:
I don't think you could pin this one on racism or move it along civil rights violations lines. However, lucky the PI attorney in TX who lands this case on behalf of the Moats' family, because this is easy a $150M+ negligance/intentional infliction of emotional distress case, and the city of Plano has DEEP pockets. I hope the Plano liability insurance is paid up b/c once this suit gets filed, their defense counsel will never let this one get close to the inside of a courtroom. Garuanteed Al Sharpton is booking his ticket to Texas right now in order to get his cut as well......
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This is almost as sad as what the officer did to begin with. Stupid? YES

Insensitive? YES

Ridiciulous? YES

BUT..

Did he endanger any lives? No.

Did he shoot at someone wrongly? No.

Did he ticket improperly/illegaly? Nope.

Did he make an inapropriate threatening statement? YEP...but is that enough? It wasn't THAT threatening a statement.

The man is guilty of gross ignorance, insensitivity, and poor judgement, but he is NOT guilty of negligance, hate crimes, or any other thing that warants a law suit.

I realize in this day and age that the Moats family may wel file a suit, and maybe (I doubt it but I'm no lawyer) even win some $$$, but it's sad that our society is so quick to jump on the SUE THEM bandwaon. It's every bit as ridiculus as the officer's actions were.

I'm firmly in the camp saying this cop needs to find another line of work..but a lawsuit is neither necessary nor warranted.
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Maybe a lawsuit is needed for the powers that be to A ) Stop hiring ######ed #######s to be police officers.

B ) Train ######ed #######s to stop acting like ######ed #######s when they put on their badge and gun.

 
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Novice2 said:
renesauz said:
JerseyEagles said:
I don't think you could pin this one on racism or move it along civil rights violations lines. However, lucky the PI attorney in TX who lands this case on behalf of the Moats' family, because this is easy a $150M+ negligance/intentional infliction of emotional distress case, and the city of Plano has DEEP pockets. I hope the Plano liability insurance is paid up b/c once this suit gets filed, their defense counsel will never let this one get close to the inside of a courtroom. Garuanteed Al Sharpton is booking his ticket to Texas right now in order to get his cut as well......
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This is almost as sad as what the officer did to begin with. Stupid? YES

Insensitive? YES

Ridiciulous? YES

BUT..

Did he endanger any lives? No.

Did he shoot at someone wrongly? No.

Did he ticket improperly/illegaly? Nope.

Did he make an inapropriate threatening statement? YEP...but is that enough? It wasn't THAT threatening a statement.

The man is guilty of gross ignorance, insensitivity, and poor judgement, but he is NOT guilty of negligance, hate crimes, or any other thing that warants a law suit.

I realize in this day and age that the Moats family may wel file a suit, and maybe (I doubt it but I'm no lawyer) even win some $$$, but it's sad that our society is so quick to jump on the SUE THEM bandwaon. It's every bit as ridiculus as the officer's actions were.

I'm firmly in the camp saying this cop needs to find another line of work..but a lawsuit is neither necessary nor warranted.
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Maybe a lawsuit is needed for the powers that be to A ) Stop hiring ######ed #######s to be police officers.

B ) Train ######ed #######s to stop acting like ######ed #######s when they put on their badge and gun.
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No...what's needed to accomplish that is better community involvement with local governments. I bet 80% of us couldn't even name their local representative to city government, and at least half of us couldn't even name our town's mayor. We can sit here and b#@$% and complain about law enforcement, but in general we the people are every bit as guilty in fostering that attitude.
 
Just heard on Sports Center about another incident with Officer Powell previously where he detained a woman for 3 1/2 hours for something or other and something like 4 of the 5 tickets were dismissed. Its like 5:00am and it was a quick sportscenter thing, gonna see if i can find a link....

From ESPN.com (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."

Full Story on Espn: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4024877

 
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PitbullTD said:
Just heard on Sports Center about another incident with Officer Powell previously where he detained a woman for 3 1/2 hours for something or other and something like 4 of the 5 tickets were dismissed. Its like 5:00am and it was a quick sportscenter thing, gonna see if i can find a link....

From ESPN.com (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."

Full Story on Espn: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4024877
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If there had been any hope for this guy to retain his job, it's gone now.
 
After the Thomas story has also surfaced, It's pretty clear this Powell is a sick son of a #####. It's good he's been outed so he can no longer harass the community.

 
More details of the Maritza Thomas story

Maritza Thomas, the wife of NFL linebacker Zach Thomas, saw a familiar face as she watched the video of Officer Robert Powell detaining Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats as he and his family rushed to a hospital to see a dying loved one. That face was Powell's.

On July 27, 2008, while her husband was at training camp with the Cowboys in Oxnard, Calif., Maritza Thomas was pulled over by Powell for an illegal U-turn near NorthPark Center.

Maritza Thomas was issued five tickets by Powell, four of which were later dismissed. Thomas was handcuffed, placed in the back of a police cruiser, spent about three hours in the Dallas County Jail and was threatened with the possibility of spending the night behind bars.

"This in no way compares to what happened to Ryan Moats and his family," said Zach Thomas, who played for the Cowboys last season and is now a free agent. "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."

The charges that were dropped were failure to show proof of insurance, running a red light, having an improper address on a driver's license and not having a registration sticker on the windshield. She accepted deferred adjudication for the illegal U-turn charge, and her record will be cleared next month.

In total, Maritza Thomas, who is Hispanic, was detained roughly five hours.

"This situation never should've happened," said Maritza Thomas' attorney, Brody Shanklin. "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."

Bob Gorsky, Powell's attorney, questioned the timing of Thomas' allegations, saying she had not complained about her arrest until the Moats incident became public.

"After her arrest, she may have mentioned that her husband was a football player, but that played no role in her arrest or the disposition of the case," Gorsky said.

"I do understand that an arrest on multiple traffic charges happens often and is absolutely proper under these circumstances," Gorsky said. "Often, when there are multiple charges, an arrest made and bond posted, some of the charges from a single event are later dropped."

According to Maritza Thomas, a pharmacist with no prior criminal record, Powell would not accept the explanation of where the proper paperwork was before she was taken to jail. Her mother, Teresa Lozano, who was making her first trip to Dallas and speaks little English, was forced to ride with the tow truck driver when the car was impounded. She later posted bail for her daughter's release.

"My mom was begging for him to let her go to the apartment that was five minutes away to get the paperwork," Maritza Thomas said. "He unbuckled his holster, and she got scared."

The Thomases said Powell was dismissive, but they did not allege that he used abusive language. There is no dash-cam video available of the incident, but the police report lists the five citations and confirms that Thomas was taken to jail.

Judge C. Victor Lander, the city of Dallas' chief municipal judge, said under Texas law a person can be arrested for any Class C misdemeanor citation except speeding and having an open container.

When an officer gives someone a traffic citation, it is in lieu of arrest, Lander said. The officer does have the option of making an arrest, he said.

"It really is giving the individual a break by issuing them a ticket. But it's a break most people get," Lander said.

He called it "relatively rare" for an officer to arrest someone on the spot. That's because it's time consuming to take someone to jail and fill out the paperwork, he said. Usually, an arrest occurs if the person has a warrant for unpaid traffic tickets, Lander said.

When an officer does decide to make an arrest for a minor traffic offense, it's usually because of how the person behaved during the traffic stop, Lander said.

"The defense bar refers to it as contempt of cop," Lander said. "If the officer was offended by something the person said or did, they may arrest them."



At the time, the Thomases considered filing a complaint against Powell but declined, "because we didn't want to cause a stir," said her husband, Zach Thomas, believing it "was maybe a guy having a bad day." However, they plan to file one now.

Complaints can be made more than 60 days following an incident in person or in writing with the internal affairs department. Maritza Thomas said she would fax a letter this week. The Thomases said they are not seeking money.

Sr. Cpl. Kevin Janse, a Dallas police spokesman, declined to comment on Thomas' allegation.

However, he said police would investigate all complaints submitted to the department about Powell.

"If she feels Officer Powell did something wrong, we'll investigate it," Janse said. "We are not going to go back and track everything this officer has done," he said. "If people come to us with concerns, we'll look into it."

The department is investigating Powell's actions on the night of the Moats traffic stop, as well as any other questionable encounters involving the officer, Janse said.

Maritza Thomas said, "I hope that by telling my story that it will help prevent situations like this from happening in the future."

Powell issued an apology Friday for his actions in which Moats and his mother-in-law's father were unable to see Jonetta Collinsworth before she died of breast cancer this month. Powell has been put on paid leave.

With the grim news of Collinsworth's health, Moats, his wife, Tamishia, and her grandfather rushed to Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano, rolling through a red light that prompted Powell to turn on his lights.

Outside the emergency room, Powell detained Moats for 13 minutes, and Collinsworth died before everybody could say goodbye.
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Let's just say that, given how he acted with Moats and the surfacing of the Thomas story, I highly doubt these are the first 2 instances in which Powell has behaved this way. Pretty sad that it takes a high profile person to bring to light his previous actions, assuming there have been previous actions of course. I feel pretty safe making that assumption at this time.

 
Just watched the video. Cop was a total tool who could have dismissed Moats and written the ticket and left it under the wiper. No lawsuit needed though but the cop will forever be a tool. He acted inappropriately and unconscionable in my mind.

 
So are we still going to assume this guy would have helped Moats to the Hospital had he pulled over immediately? No excuse from me for moats running the light but I know it has been hinted at here that had he pulled over right away he would have been escorted to the hospital.

 
Scarpaggio said:
So are we still going to assume this guy would have helped Moats to the Hospital had he pulled over immediately? No excuse from me for moats running the light but I know it has been hinted at here that had he pulled over right away he would have been escorted to the hospital.
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Admittedly, that was my original assumption. But in light of this officer's history of foolishness, I am not convinced that it would have made anything too much easier.
 
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I find it interesting that Moats was threatened with having his car towed if he didn't produce his insurance card. Powell seemed to me to act as if it was an automatic tow - at least from him - if there was no proof of insurance. That sounds exacty like what happened to Zach's wife's car when she didn't have proof of insurance.

Thomas and his wife stated Powell was not abusive in his langauge during her encounter. While Powell told Moats to shut up, I don't think his langauge was abusive and he seemed to remain rather calm through the whole event with Moats as well.

I'm not sure what Powell's trigger is. Previously I guessed it was someone challenging his authority. But Moats is black and Thomas's wife is hispanic. There could be a pattern emerging. It would be interesting to see what his arrest vs. in leiu of history looks like.

Thomas's wife says she tried to explain where the paperwork was and that her mom pleaded to be allowed to run home and get them. I don't know how they do it in Texas but that's an automatic ticket and court appearance here if you get cited for it. You don't get to give your word on it or have the officer follow you home so you can get it. If you don't have proof in the car at the time, you get the ticket and the Judge can let you off if you show up to court with proof that you were insured on the date of the ticket. Towing the car, however, is something that be unusual here as is being arrested for it.

Unfortunate that there was no dashcam of the Thomas stop. If she became argumentative with him about towing the car, I can see that triggering an arrest based upon what I saw in the Moats video. But it may be that Powell basically gives no one any slack on any ticket.

I think we'll know soon enough. There's going to an inquiry into his arrest and citation record by someone under a freedom of information request even if he isn't sued.

 
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TheLem said:
the cop acted like a tool and could've handled much better from that point on.but, so could have Moats.
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I'm 100% fine with admitting that neither Moats nor the officer handled the situation well. However, the officer is PAID TO HANDLE SITUATIONS LIKE THAT WELL, while Moats is IN A COMPLETE PANIC AND IN A SITUATION THAT HES MOST LIKELY NEVER BEEN IN NOR PREPARED FOR IN ANY WAY.Therefore, I fully blame the officer and I have no problem whatsoever with how Moats acted.
 
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Lobary said:
A win again ov said:
I'd sue for some kind of reason.
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Waste of time and money. There is no Sec. 1983 violation here. The cop is just another typical ahole cop who did what ahole cops do all the time, he just did it to a NFL player while that player's mother-in-law was dying...and it was all caught on video.The national outrage is more shocking to me than the behavior of the police officer.
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This is true. This guy acted like most cops act in my experience and it is part of why I don't jump up and down and accept as gospel every testimony of a cop claiming a player (or anyone else) has done something wrong.
 
What is it with cops and hospitals?

Dr. Ziworitin says he was rushing to UMC early Monday morning when an officer pulled him over near Rancho and Alta, “I may have briefly made a stop, and right there pulled my ID card which boldly says UMC and I said, ‘I am a physician going to the hospital.’”

Dr. Ziworitin says he then continued a few blocks to UMC, driving into a secure doctors’ parking lot which requires a badge to enter. The officer followed him in.

“The officer stepped out of his car and told me to stop and freeze. I explained, ‘Officer, I am sorry. I don’t want to be rude. I am a physician, there is an emergency, and I have to go.’”

Dr. Ziworitin says what happened next was shocking, “The officer proceeded to pull out his gun, point it at my face, and told me to lay face down on the ground, which I did. At this point, my ID card dropped on the floor and I remember him stepping on me, probably putting his knee on my back, and then cuffed me.”

Still cuffed, Dr. Ziworitin says he was put up against the police car as the officer called UMC to verify his employment, “Immediately after that call he proceeded to uncuff me and I ran upstairs to go take care of the emergency.”

Dr. Ziworitin says he delivered a baby and later called Metro’s Internal Affairs Division.
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