Disturbing Video of Moats' Run-in With Police

disgusting… and unfortunately all too common.

(the harassment is all too common, naturally)

yes because insurance and a red light is so much more important.

Is this cop really that dense?

Here’s hoping this cop is soon to be an ex-cop.  This is inexcusable.

Barney F-ing Fife, A-$-$-H-O-L-E  Emeritus !!!!!!!

lets fire a cop for doing his job. good idea.

Pigs on a power trip are awesome, but then that’s why they become cops.

Completely disgusting. This guy is supposed to be a "civil servent"??? Nice to see Dallas’ finest have their priorities in order.

I hope he loses his pension over this.

amazing that Moats was able to keep his composure. zero common sense used by that cop.

Hey truth be told, the cop was probably scared at first because they didnt pull over right away and got out of the car, when you get pulled over you never get out right away, they couldve been shot.

Obviously, this is not one of "Dallas’ Finest." He should be condemmed to dispatching because he’s incapable of being on the street.

The true punishment is that this "cop" will have this on his head for the rest of his life. He should only pray that divine retribution doesn’t swing on him and a loved one down the road.

It would have been a better video if like 8 other cops showed and they roughed him up a bit.

the cop is a f—-ing idiot and should be fired for this stupid s—-. my heart goes out to moats and his family.  it’s unfortunate the cop was ego tripping.

The cop says ‘It doesn’t matter’?

Well 10 years ago, my mother died. And if this clown stopped me from getting on a plane to get there faster, we both would have gone down.

I wouldn’t have cared. At least I would be with my mom.

These ‘yahoos’ need to learn some common sense and nature!

I know that there is an element of danger; but where was it? They
professed that they did what they did to see the wife’s mother’s last
minutes on earth. What a power trip!

Hopefully the cop never has to go through the same situation. But I
wonder if it wouldn’t be a different story?

In the meantime, this young man was denied a ‘once in a lifetime
moment’.

I also hope the cop will start to enjoy saying: ‘Would you like fries
with that?’.

Moats was in the wrong for the traffic violation, but the police officer overstepped his bounds, the power went to his head.

This cop should be forced to play running back behind the Texans offensive line, circa 2002-2005.  Wait, that would be cruel and unusual punishment…

this cop was a flippin insensitive jerk nd actually had the audacity to say i can screw you over if i want, i mean what in the world is wrong with him that guy should just serve and protect the local burger station and even that would be too good for him

just disgusting

I would not want to be that officer.  He may be one of the most hated men in America.

he says "your car is illegally parked."

you have got to be kidding me!!??!?!

give this dope a dollar and buy a clue already!

i didn’t need to have my blood pressure raised this early in the morning…unfortunately egotistical jerks like one robert powell disgrace all the fine hard work put in by others wearing the uniform.

Officers have leeway in what they can and cannot do in this sort of situation. This LEO did not handle the situation properly, and he is going to pay for it one way or another.

Things like this are clear proof of why people have such a level of unease and distrust of the police!Officers like this make it much harder for those offigers who try to do their jobs in a fair and dilligent manner!Condolences to the Moats family!

I saw recently a video of a 16 year old getting brutally beaten for kicking a shoe at a police officer in a holding cell.   Ryan Moats lost his family member while a jerk off officer was having a power trip!!

This is clearly what Justice Scalia was talking about when he mentioned police professionalism in the Hudson v. Michigan Supreme Court case.

you whining ass morons if moats wasnt down at the liquor store he probaly would of been there sooner. with that being said he could of killed someone on the way driveing like that wether it was an emergency or not the cop was in the right he broke the rules and led him on a chase. if it was me id of had his superstar ass on the ground in cuffs . now if he,d of stopped real quick and explained the situation to the cop he might of gotten an escourt now after explaining it to the cop and the cop becomes an ass like that by still holding him up that would of been wrong big time sorry about the mother in law but the officer did his job. so all you chumps quit crying.

it’s cop what do you exspect!  were not talking about a highly educated higher thinker here!  these meatballs always abuse their little badges!

Let me be the fly in the outrage ointment fior just a moment. All of you here venting your outrage and disgust at Officer Powell here are right to have that outrage; but I dare say that without the videotape of the incident you would all be calling Ryan Moats a thug and claiming that HE was in the wrong. Why do I say this? Because in way too many instances where the mere accustaion of wrongdoing by an athlete gets him attacked, called names, and elicits calls for his job to be forfeit…before we ever get a real hearing of the facts.

Think I’m kidding? Well we all remember how people attacked Cedric Benson here at TSN when he was arrested for BWI and DWI and released from the Chicago Bears. He was immature, a thug, a criminal, and worse. Yet no one cared when a Texas grand jury, not the most forgiving of states for criminals, refused to indict him on either charge becaue they found the state lacked any real evidence.

So feel free to vent your spleen on this jerk of an officer, because he deserves it. But let it also be a reminder to you that not everyone pulled over by the cops is guilty, and not every athlete who has a contact with the cops is a "thug". The presumption of innocence should not be confined only to those who are fortunate enough to have their incidents with police recorded by a dash-cam and broadcast by ABC News.

cajunman, I’m pretty sure your grammar and carefully chosen words have said all that needs to be said about you. How long has your trailer had internet access anyway?

If one of my family members were dying and I was rushing to see them there isn’t a red light I wouldn’t run…and to be clear it was stated that he "rolled" through it, meaning he slowed down to make sure nobody was coming and then proceeded through the intersection. It doesn’t sound like he was endangering anybody else on the road.

You can see and hear the nurses even coming out and trying to get this cop to do the right thing and he was more interested in hearing himself talk. I hope he enjoys unemployment. Cajunman, maybe you can give him some tips on what to do with all that free time.

capt. i still wouldnt of not stopped read what i wrote just cause he rolled through doesnt mean somebody else that had the right away didnt see him and could be dead right now read what i wrote and i like my trailer. the cop was in the right.

There are several facts an experienced officer must take into account when dealing with this situation. 

1.  People blatantly running red lights are usually fleeing a crime and if they do so will drive in a very different manner.  If for instance, the driver had been in a stolen car and was caught ruinning a red light he would have pulled over immediately or hit the gas.

2.  The vehicle was running with hazard lights on in the vicinity of a hospital and was moving in the direction of the hospital.  According to any officer’s training, this is a dead giveaway for an emergency situation. 

3. The vehicle then proceeds to the hospital and passengers immediately disembark and head into the building.  A second dead giveaway.

4.  The driver immediately indicates an emergency situation and informs the officer that there is a developing situation inside which requires his immediate attention.  An experinced officer should have: a)followed the driver inside as he gleaned more information or, b) called for backup and then "a" above.

5.  Criminals fleeing a scene are not likely to pull up to a hospital with their entire family and lie about a relative dying inside.  If they do, they are very easy to catch up to with video surveillance and additional law enforcement personnel inside. 

The reverberations of bad judgement come with the job.  In my experience, the worst thing an officer can do is allow one bad decision to snowball into a travesty such as this.  The first responsibility of this officer is "To protect and serve".  I think that he simply forgot himself after the second or third exchange and it quickly became a situation where his descretional authority was abused.  We have all done it, but police officers are held to a higher standard and unfortunately, can’t just apologize.

Another issue that is not mentioned is that the officer has his weapon drawn throughout most of the exchange.  IF he felt sufficiently threatened to draw a weapon, he should have immediately handcuffed one of the suspects.  The officer’s responsibilies in this situation are to proctect himself, diffuse the situation, determine which laws have been broken, apply a common sense resolution, and serve the public trust.  He failed on four of those.

Like all professions you`ll find good and bad people! The cop was clearly wrong after evaluating the circumstances! I`ve had one ticket in my life. It was in North Carolina in 1982.  I was cited for speeding. I was going 45 in a 35 zone. At the time I was in the Marines,in uniform,and hurrying to my home,from my base. To my 8 months pregnant wife.  The cop didn`t want to hear anything! So I got my $50.00 ticket.  But on the other hand I`ve met many good professional officers!

Amen 89Falcon.  I was never a Cedric Benson fan but something didn’t smell right about either of his arrests.

Cajunman,

You’re a effin’ moron.  You said the cop "was in the right."  So you’re telling me that someone’s relative DYING is not worth letting the guy go if all he did was run a red light and nobody got hurt???  Your must be one of those power trippin, low self esteem havin, something to prove ‘cuz my wee-wee is little, bored a** cops that do stuff like this all the time.  Have fun kickin’ puppies on your lunch break, Officer Meathead.

Unbelievable.  Power hungry punk cop.

Ryan Moats is a bigger man than me because if a cop told me that it didn’t matter that a loved one of mine was dying inside and that he could screw me over, I would lose my mind. Don’t get me wrong, I usually tend to take the side of the cops since I believe many of them are great people just trying to do one of the hardest jobs, but this is unforgivable. And as much as I have thought about it, I can’t see any other acceptable punishment for this cop other than getting fired (once a cop threatens to screw somebody over he must lose his job). 

CaptJackSparrow.   Hahaha.  Good point!  re:Cajunman.

89Falcon..   Whatever goodwill that is established before,  is severly dimished by one bad cop.  Just be a member of Moat’s family and get back to me on this.  Your position and that of the cop,  is indefensible!

Miatay: What position of mine is indefensible? The position that the cop was deserving of the outrage being directed at him on this board, or that not every athlete who gets pulled over by the cops is guilty of a crime? You obviously have me mixed up with someone else (and if you don’t you need to work on your reading comprehension skills), since I have made no attempt to diminish the wrong the officer did or the pain of Ryan Moats and his family.

How you get an indefensible statement out of what I wrote is truly beyond me.

89Falcon…you were being "teh fly in the ointment"  talking about Cedric Benson and calling him a thug.   I am a dark skin Asian girl,  so  I know a lot more about racism that you might know.  As for my comprehension skills,  they are quite good.   English is like my third language after Tagalog and Bisayan.      The position that is indefensible, is your assertion that ’all  of us venting"  would call him a thug.   That my friend,  is the basis of my argument against you.

He rollin’…. they hatin’

Miatay,

Seeing how English is your third language and all, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt that you truly don’t understand what I am saying.

You see, I was being the fly in the outrage ointment because of the usual reaction at TSN whenever an athlete is accused of any wrongdoing. The first thing said about them, especially if they are black, is that they are "thugs", and it usually gets worse from there. I was also pointing out that even though the cop deserves the outrage he is getting (especially in light of his arresting Zach Thomas’s wife for an illegal U-turn), that if not for the video of the incident the tenor of the posts would likely have been that Moats was a "thug" and should be severely punished by the NFL, which is almost the default position of many TSN members when a player has a ‘contact’ with the police.

Further, I did not call Cedric Benson a "thug", I pointed out that when he was arrested others at this site immediately presumed him guilty and labeled him a "thug." He was used as an illustration of the usual attitudes, and the way people ignore it when the "thug" is foud to be not guilty, or in Benson’s case, not even indicted for any crime.

And maybe I overstepped when I said that all of the people venting at the officer would be calling Moats a "thug" without the tape being published, but I stand by the assertion that in most incidents that is the overwhelming response that athletes get here at TSN. Think I’m joking? Then read the comments at this link http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=407960&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0#comments to see the reaction to Benson when he disputed the official police version of events.

As for your being a dark skinned Asian, why should i care about that? I’m a dark skinned African-American and have experienced my own run-in’s with racism and racists…but that doesn’t add to or subtract from my larger point, which is why I didn’t mention it.