Inexcusable behavior by DPD officer

[Mike1951]

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NEWS 8 EXCLUSIVE
March 26th, 2009
Rebecca Lopez reports
VIDEO: Unedited Dallas PD dashcam tape
VIDEO: Police Chief Kunkle on the incident
LINK: Ryan Moats NFL stats
Search Video:
DALLAS — Racing to see his dying mother-in-law at a Plano hospital, an NFL player found himself delayed by a Dallas officer as her life ebbed away. It's a story that has sparked outrage across North Texas and generated interest around the country.

Dallas police Chief David Kunkle faced reporters Thursday afternoon to express his embarrassment over the incident and to publicly apologize to the family. He said the officer involved failed to use common sense.

It all started in the early morning hours of March 17. With his wife and another woman in the car, Ryan Moats — a running back for the Houston Texans — sped his car toward Baylor Regional Medical Center of Plano. But when the Moats arrived at emergency room parking lot, they were stopped by Officer Robert Powell, who reportedly drew his service revolver on the concerned family members.

Dashcam video from the Dallas officer's patrol car captured the incident.

"Get in there," Officer Powell yelled out to Tamishia Moats, Ryan's wife, as she exited the car. "Let me see your hands. Get in there. Put your hands on the car."

"Excuse me; my mom is dying," Tamisha Moats replied.

She and the other woman ignored Officer Powell's commands and rushed inside the hospital to her dying mother as Ryan Moats and Officer Powell went back-and-forth over insurance paperwork the NFL player was unable to locate.

MOATS: "I've got seconds before she's gone, man."

POWELL: "Listen: If I can't verify you have insurance..."

MOATS: "My mother-in-law is dying!"

POWELL: "Listen to me."

MOATS: "Right now, you're wasting my time."

POWELL: "If you can't verify you have insurance, I'm going to tow your car. So, you either find it or I am going to tow the car."

As they argued, the officer got irritated.

POWELL: "Shut your mouth. Shut your mouth. You can either settle down and cooperate, or I can just take you to jail for running a red light."


Dallas PD
The tape shows a nurse coming out of the hospital, pleading with Officer Powell to let Moats join his wife and her dying mother inside.. "I certainly hope anybody who saw the videotape immediately understood how serious the misconduct is," Chief Kunkle said Thursday afternoon. "I don't know how you train for these circumstances other than to hire people with good common sense and people skills."

In a telephone interview, Moats said the clash with the officer was totally unexpected. "For him to not even be sympathetic at all, and basically we're dogs or something and we don't matter — it basically shocked me," he said.

No compassion was indicated in the police recording of the incident. "I can screw you over," Officer Powell said. "I would rather not do that. You obviously will dictate everything that happens; and right now, your attitude sucks."

"My understanding is that Officer Powell — even after he saw the videotape — believed he had not acted inappropriately," Chief Kunkle said, a view that was underscored by Assistant Chief Floyd Simpson, who reviewed the tape with Officer Powell on Wednesday.

"His belief was simply that he was doing his job," Chief Simpson said. "It did concern me that it just seemed that the compassion was not there."

The hospital twice sent nurses to try and get the officer to release Moats.

"We're blue-coding her for the third time," a nurse said on the police videotape.

A Plano police officer stopped to make a plea for the officer to let Moats go. "Hey, that's the nurse," the Plano officer said. "She says the mom is dying right now, and she wants to know if I can get him up there."

Finally, after a 20-minute delay, the officer ticketed Moats for running a red light.

By the time Moats made it up to the emergency room, his mother-in-law was dead.

"I went up after she passed and held her hand, but she was already gone," Moats said in a telephone interview.

Dallas police have launched a review of the incident.

“When it came to our attention, we immediately called for an internal investigation to be done,” said police spokesman Lt. Andy Havey.

"The essence of being a police officer is common sense and discretion," Chief Kunkle added. "I can't imagine a worse circumstance."

WFAA.com has received more than 400 comments about the incident since the story first aired on Channel 8 Wednesday night.

WFAA.com staff editors Marjorie Owens and Walt Zwirko contributed to this report.

[Captain Matt]

If he wasn't some kind of celebrity would this even make the news?

[nitrogen]

If he wasn't some kind of celebrity would this even make the news?

Probably not. What's even worse, is, celebrity or not, I can guess plenty of people would stick up for the officer.

[Oldgringo]

I just saw the dashcam and heard the tape on FOX. The officer sounded like a neck of the reddest sort.

[Right2Carry]

Sad, Sad, Sad day for DPD. That officer should be fired on the spot. I can't believe what I just watched.

[DEADEYE1964]

Kuncle should fire the officer but then the police union will fight to get his job back while he is on paid administative leave saying he was doing his job because the guy ran a red light( slowed down first to make sure no one was coming). This guy does not need to be carrying a badge, that was a total abuse of power. The LEO's wonder why we do not trust the police, it is because of things like this and many other reasons. Over the years I have lost total respect for MOST LEO's for several reasons, one, a friend of mine who has been on the force for over 20 years believes he is above the law and he has always abused the power and several others I know have told me in stories that THEY CAN MAKE IT REAL BAD FOR YOU, just like the officer said in that video, I think he should be fired for that alone.

This is not a cop bashing thread, I just think it is the way MOST of the public feels toward them for one reason or another and instances like this do not help the cause. I know there are good cops out there and we do not hear about all the good stuff they do and we always hear the stories like the idiot above but trust me, there are more like him out there, I have met them.

[Keith B]

Having former LEO experience, I will tell you IMO this is not the norm. While I will admit there are some of the 'my badge makes me all powerful' types, the majority are good folks doing their job and helping the public.

In this case, the LEO was just a jerk. He had no compassion. While you have to put up somewhat of a a shield on your emotions as an officer, total loss of them is a bad thing. Once it was verified what was going on, he should have backed down, understood the circumstances and allowed him to proceed . Had he stopped them away from the hospital, the verification of their story might have been a little more difficult. But once the nurse, guards and a Plano officer came out, it was totally clear the story was legit. No matter what, he should have kept a professional attitude during the incident, and he didn't.

All in all, there is no place for someone like this on a police force. His behavior is inexcusable and reflects on all officers in supporting the public misconception that the police are only out there to cause you trouble and give you a hassle.

[KD5NRH]

Kuncle should fire the officer but then the police union will fight to get his job back while he is on paid administative leave saying he was doing his job because the guy ran a red light( slowed down first to make sure no one was coming).

Just send him to Oakland to help out with the protests there. For his own protection, let him wear a robe and hood to conceal his identity.

[tfrazier]

This guy let his ego escalate and couldn't bring himself to back down. It makes me cringe every time I hear the audio or see the video, knowing that great officers out there (who are the vast majority) are going to take an unfair beating over this guy's inability to exercise some common sense discretion and compassion.

I'm not making any excuses for this guy...but there is a disturbing underlying cause for this type of behavior and it's not getting any better.

Over the years, agencies have placed more and more limits on officer discretion. Frustration over that can cause a few officers to discard moderation and common sense and replace them with a robotic "you either broke the law or you didn't" approach. Most officers resist that urge, because they are principled and compassionate. And many of them pay dearly for it. If they chose to 'overlook' a violation, and the brass finds out, they can be disciplined for failing to honor their oath to uphold the law. They can be accused of letting someone off the hook because they were too lazy to do the paperwork. They can be accused of being too soft, bribery...etc, etc, etc.

I had my fair share of reprimands for times I didn't take someone to jail because I felt their extenuating circumstances justified it. After a while some folks start feeling like the best way to keep the brass off your back is to just cite or arrest everyone and let the judges and prosecutors deal with the consequences.

I've never known an officer to be commended for just issuing a warning instead of a citation, or for just letting the minimum wage kid working his way through college pour that six-pack out in the field and go back to his dorm room.

It's a tough business where you are Monday-morning-quarter-backed for every split second decision you have to make.

[Taltyman]

Be aware that Moats is not the one who reported this incident to the police. It was the Plano police officer who did. He waited a week and his conscience would not let him ignore it any longer and he reported it. At least this was the way it was reported on a follow up story.

[jbirds1210]

Kuncle should fire the officer but then the police union will fight to get his job back while he is on paid administative leave saying he was doing his job because the guy ran a red light( slowed down first to make sure no one was coming).

Just send him to Oakland to help out with the protests there. For his own protection, let him wear a robe and hood to conceal his identity.

That is one of the most trashy things I have ever seen on this forum. What a shame.

Jason

[CHL/LEO]

Rest assured that the majority of DPD officers are extremely offended and embarrassed by this officer's behavior and attitude. As a Dallas Police Officer I join with our Chief of Police in apologizing for this incident. There are over 4,000 employees of the DPD and the old saying that we all have grown up with of, "it only takes one bad apple to ruin the whole barrel" is unfortunately apropos in this situation. Again, I can assure you that 99% of our officers would have not acted this way, but as others have related on this thread, all LEOs are now being thought of in a negative manner because of this - and not just Dallas officers. Because of that I want to also apologize to my brother and sister LEOs along with their departments and agencies.

We know that the news media never shows the thousands of good things that LEOs do everyday and we accept that as how the game is played. Our home phone has been ringing off the hook for the last 24 hours with calls from friends and family wanting to know what the heck was wrong with our department and how could we employ an officer such as this. I had a friend who worked with LAPD during the Rodney King situation and he told me then that I couldn't imagine the turmoil that they were going through as a department when that happened. Every officer was looked upon as a racist thug who beat down people just for the heck of it. While this situation doesn't rise anywhere to the level of the Rodney King situation I can now understand what he was trying to convey to me back then.

Our department has had so many complaints coming in from all around the world because of this incident that we've had to reassign officers to special duty just to field all of these calls. Now that it has gone viral (You Tube, ESPN, CNN, and the internet) it will probably get worse before it gets better. The media trucks constantly parked outside of our headquarters building resembles the Super Bowl. Again, my (our) apologies to everyone, and I hope that if you do ever have the opportunity to come into contact with an officer from DPD it will be in a much more professional manner.

[Charles L. Cotton]

Rest assured that the majority of DPD officers are extremely offended and embarrassed by this officer's behavior and attitude. As a Dallas Police Officer I join with our Chief of Police in apologizing for this incident. There are over 4,000 employees of the DPD and the old saying that we all have grown up with of, "it only takes one bad apple to ruin the whole barrel" is unfortunately apropos in this situation. Again, I can assure you that 99% of our officers would have not acted this way, but as others have related on this thread, all LEOs are now being thought of in a negative manner because of this - and not just Dallas officers. Because of that I want to also apologize to my brother and sister LEOs along with their departments and agencies.

We know that the news media never shows the thousands of good things that LEOs do everyday and we accept that as how the game is played. Our home phone has been ringing off the hook for the last 24 hours with calls from friends and family wanting to know what the heck was wrong with our department and how could we employ an officer such as this. I had a friend who worked with LAPD during the Rodney King situation and he told me then that I couldn't imagine the turmoil that they were going through as a department when that happened. Every officer was looked upon as a racist thug who beat down people just for the heck of it. While this situation doesn't rise anywhere to the level of the Rodney King situation I can now understand what he was trying to convey to me back then.

Our department has had so many complaints coming in from all around the world because of this incident that we've had to reassign officers to special duty just to field all of these calls. Now that it has gone viral (You Tube, ESPN, CNN, and the internet) it will probably get worse before it gets better. The media trucks constantly parked outside of our headquarters building resembles the Super Bowl. Again, my (our) apologies to everyone, and I hope that if you do ever have the opportunity to come into contact with an officer from DPD it will be in a much more professional manner.

Thanks for the post and I'm sorry for what you guys are going through because of one jerk. I've said it many times, no one hates a bad COP more than a good COP, because they have to live with the aftermath he created.

Every LEO who has been on the street for any length of time has run into medical emergency situations and you have to use your best judgment on how to handle the situation. In this case, the stop wasn't made until they were in the hospital parking lot, so there was no danger to the public by an emotional driver. Plus, all he had on the guy was "traffic" and if he felt that strongly about it, he could have written the citation later.

Chas.

[frazzled]

Rest assured that the majority of DPD officers are extremely offended and embarrassed by this officer's behavior and attitude. As a Dallas Police Officer I join with our Chief of Police in apologizing for this incident. There are over 4,000 employees of the DPD and the old saying that we all have grown up with of, "it only takes one bad apple to ruin the whole barrel" is unfortunately apropos in this situation. Again, I can assure you that 99% of our officers would have not acted this way, but as others have related on this thread, all LEOs are now being thought of in a negative manner because of this - and not just Dallas officers. Because of that I want to also apologize to my brother and sister LEOs along with their departments and agencies.

We know that the news media never shows the thousands of good things that LEOs do everyday and we accept that as how the game is played. Our home phone has been ringing off the hook for the last 24 hours with calls from friends and family wanting to know what the heck was wrong with our department and how could we employ an officer such as this. I had a friend who worked with LAPD during the Rodney King situation and he told me then that I couldn't imagine the turmoil that they were going through as a department when that happened. Every officer was looked upon as a racist thug who beat down people just for the heck of it. While this situation doesn't rise anywhere to the level of the Rodney King situation I can now understand what he was trying to convey to me back then.

Our department has had so many complaints coming in from all around the world because of this incident that we've had to reassign officers to special duty just to field all of these calls. Now that it has gone viral (You Tube, ESPN, CNN, and the internet) it will probably get worse before it gets better. The media trucks constantly parked outside of our headquarters building resembles the Super Bowl. Again, my (our) apologies to everyone, and I hope that if you do ever have the opportunity to come into contact with an officer from DPD it will be in a much more professional manner.

Thats all well and good but its irrelevant unless the guy gets fired.

[tfrazier]

... Again, my (our) apologies to everyone, and I hope that if you do ever have the opportunity to come into contact with an officer from DPD it will be in a much more professional manner.

Thats all well and good but its irrelevant unless the guy gets fired.

It ain't irrelevant to me. This one numb-skull doesn't represent the majority of DPD officers, whereas I feel CHL/LEO does.