This is screwed up. Majorly screwed up and if there is any outrage from the public seething from this, I can totally relate. This week NFL running back Ryan Moats was rushing with his family to get to the hospital to see his dying mother in law. While heading to the hospital, he ran a red light and a chase by a Dallas police ensued. What happened next was incredible.
Watch this police camera video and judge for yourself:
If I were Ryan Moats right now, I would be sueing the living shit out of Dallas Police for denying me the right to see my mother in law pass away.
Officer Robert Powell should be fired and that decision should not be made from the police department but rather by the overwhelming sentiment of the public, who pays his paycheck. This officer abused his authority and should have handled this situation with much better judgement.
If this was you, would take this shit for running a red light while under extraordinary circumstances? Ryan Moats was not carrying a gun nor any weapon to harm the officer. If the officer felt that this wasn't the case, then why did he let his wife flee into the hospital? When Moats' wife went into the hospital, that should have been a "aha" moment to Mr. Powell. He should have quickly taken Mr. Moats into the hospital and assess the situation to see if he was telling the truth. Then slap the damn ticket on him if it wasn't. Right?
The officer obviously didn't believe that the Moats family was telling the truth. He was too busy being a dickhead enforcing the law, instead of serving the public.
The entire 17 minute unedited Ryan Moats video can be seen here. It was obvious this police officer is on a power trip. Even after the nurse told the officer this is a code blue (emergency resuscitation) he continued to keep Mr. Moats at bay, not letting him go see his mother in law.
Observe also that Mr. Moats during the last 10 minutes is quite. The fucked up thing is that the officer reprimands Ryan Moats and says its his attitude problem AFTER he learns of the code blue situation. The officer just doesn't plain get why Moats was acting this way and why he was in a hurry - clearly an idiot with no sympathy or passion.
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I watched the unedited video twice
After looking at things from both sides, Officer Robert Powell screwed up. I believe he had the right to pull a gun on the people who rushed out of the car - he really didn't know what was going on at that instant (the SUV could have been stolen, it was a drug deal, or something else could have been happening).
Because he was alone, he didn't have much choice but to hold Ryan Moats at the scene and let his wife go. It was a judgement call and a tough one - again because he didn't have all the facts. There was no way to prove that the Moats were telling the truth in the parking lot.
However where he did screw up majorly and should have shown compassion and sympathy was after learning that the mother in law was in code blue. Strangely, the officer kept his hard nose angle and even reprimanded Moats, which was totally befuddling.
Now I've read comments from the web and I think a lot of people are over reacting because they were steered in the wrong direction with edited video being riled up with others were saying. They should watch the entire thing from start to finish and put themselves in the shoes of the police officer, not the victim. Realize he did let family members go up to the room but left Ryan Moats at the scene. He could have a been a total jerk by holding all of them in the parking lot for the entire 17 minutes. Or worse yet, firing the gun at the two women.
Regardless, the officer overreacted and was a jerk in the way he handled the situation. The Moats family is owed not only an apology from Dallas Police but also the resignation from the officer. If not fired, Powell should be put on parking meter duty. He clearly has lost sense of whom he is serving - the public not his vigilante self righteousness.
Kerry is the founder of KerryOnWorld. He lives in Silicon Valley and has worked as an engineer and project manager. He owns Kobashi Computing a consulting company.