[Dallas] NFL player's police saga at Plano hospital captured on dash cam

I guess he makes that threat very often. 'I'll throw your ass in jail'.

 

Cop??

 

I've always wondered if stops signs on private property like parking lots (like the ones you see in the video) carry the full legal obligation to make a complete stop as stop signs on regular, public streets.

I'm also curious about something that nobody seems to be mentioning. Both Moats and the Officer have mentioned that Moats ran a single red light. Moats talks in the video and in the articles about stopping to make sure it was safe to go before going on, etc. Certainly sounding like Moats only ran one red light.

But no one ever mentioned which light it was that he ran. Was it the light turning from the Bush Turnpike onto Preston, or was it the light on the other side of the Bush Turnpike on Preston? It's an important question because one of those lights is in Dallas and one is in Plano.

And while it may very well be legal for Dallas police officers to undertake traffic stops for violations that occur outside of their jurisdiction (I don't know one way or another), why would the cash-strapped city of Dallas waste resources by enforcing laws in neighboring towns?

We never see in the video which light Moats ran, and we can't see if the light turning off of the Bush Turnpike onto Preston is red at the time the officer goes through that intersection (the light facing South on Preston is red and appears to have been at least a few moments since there's traffic sitting at it) when the officer goes through.

And we don't know for certainly where the officer was sitting, but unless he was very dangerously parked in the road, there aren't many vantage points available where he could even see the left-turn signal in that intersection.

It just all seems fishy to me, but I don't know anything for certain.

 

No, I just don't blatantly break every law on the Texas Driver's License Handbook, sir.

 

Unless you always drive the speed limit then you, sir, are an enormous hypocrite. And I guarantee you Mr. Moats had a better reason to break the law that time than you ever had.

 

Read my post. I never said "I NEVER BREAK THE LAW", sir. I admit I will speed from time to time, but never blatantly just going an awful higher speed than everyone else. All I am saying is that, with a cop on my tail with his lights on, asking me to stop, with stops in front of me, I would stop... even if SOMEONE'S DYING. "Baloney!", you say? The entire check took about 8 minutes without the arguments. He would have saved himself about 9 minutes off that video if he would have just stopped FIRST.

Say someone's dying, ok... say someone's giving birth in my car, fine... then a cop stops me. Heck, I would have stopped, gotten the ticket, said "YES, SIR" to an ahole cop who didn't have a heart, and would have gone on my way, without argument and then would ask for the video to report a BIT TIME COMPLAINT about the ahole LATER. You also don't say "check the insurance" 4 or 5 times to a police officer.

Look, all, I don't defend the police officer. I don't defend MOATS. All I have said is that the officer had no heart, could have done it fast, and Moats could also have just said 'ok, i will stop, get the ticket', and saved lots of grief. LOTS. Take this to the D&D if you want to continue the discussion.

 

If you do not understand why Mr. Moats argued and do not understand why the officer should have let him go right into the hospital and dealt with the ticket another way, then you are emotionally broken and none of us here can help that.

 

Speechless. You're a regular here Swoly, so I hate to say it. But you're an idiot.

 

Interesting, too, that it wasn't Moats who came public with this or brought it to the attention of the DPD. It was the Plano officer. He so believed that what Powell had done was wrong that he ignored the blue wall of silence and not only reported it to his superiors, but also made sure to report it to Powell's supervisors at the DPD.

Other police officers, even BEFORE this was public thought Powell stepped way over the line, and yet non-police officers still defend his actions.

Of course, you only know this because of hindsight. When the lights go on in the rear view mirror, you don't know how long it's going to take. I've had traffic stops that lasted far longer. The last time I got pulled over in Plano, as a matter of fact, it took over half an hour from the time I pulled over until the time I was free to leave. I have no idea why it took so long as it was only for speeding 8 mph over the limit. The last time I got pulled over past 1am, I had to do an entire field sobriety test, even though I hadn't even had a single drink that evening, which I'm sure took more than eight minutes. The fact is, you just don't know how long you have and how long it's going to take.

And even at eight minutes, had he stopped before reaching the hospital, that's eight minutes that his wife wouldn't have been at the hospital.

And, we don't know that Powell didn't hurry a little when the nurses and other police officers started pushing him. Just because he didn't immediately let Moats go doesn't mean he didn't speed up a little bit. Stop before reaching the hospital and maybe Powell takes even longer. We don't know.

So you can't say that it only would've been eight minutes had Moats been more co-operative. Not to mention that the Chief of Police of Dallas says that the point of the police is not to be a bunch of hard-asses about the rules. In emergency situations, the police are supposed to be helpful. This qualified as an emergency situation. That it took any more than a minute to get Moats and the father of the dying woman on their way into the hospital is despicable. And Powell's boss agrees.

 

^ Of course everyone is going to come out to say how the worse cops have done wrong. No one here ever talks about the time cops let them go even though they know they had broken some traffic law. It's ok. It's human nature. Everyone is upset because of this.

That's not a big deal. You can think I am an idiot whether I am a regular here or I am not, but I stand by what I said: everyone in that situation wasn't doing everything the way it should have been done, and now there are problems. Citizens must obey laws, and police officers must also use their human side. That's not a problem, sir, think of me as an idiot if you want.

 

if you understood anything about the history of slavery.. you wouldn't bring up such an irrelevant point.

 

I think HKC has been banned.

 

Are you, or is anyone you are related to, a cop? b/c your comments are very douche-like..

You expect everyone to act "according to your liking".. when it is in fact very selfish and unreasonable to expect that...

next time someone you care about is dying.. you can then act as the defense attorney for the cop-like party of your case.. and you can make this case then.

 

I can't talk about such a thing because it's never happened to me. Every time I've gotten pulled over, I've gotten a ticket. Knock on wood, I haven't been pulled over in years, but when I was younger, it happened not too infrequently.

But the times I have been pulled over, the police officers have (all but twice) been extremely courteous and polite. And, almost all of them have attempted to ascertain if there was some possible reason for my speeding before checking my license and insurance and writing me the ticket.

Some have taken an ungodly amount of time, but I don't know the reason for it. Maybe dispatch was backed up and their bosses told them everybody they pull over gets checked. There could be any number of reasons why, and while it was annoying, I didn't get the feeling at the time that the officer was delaying me just to be a jerk.

It's a tough job, and I firmly believe that the vast majority of those who wear the badge do so in a manner of which we can all be proud. But every once in a while, there comes an officer whose attitude and actions bring shame to the department, and, according to the Chief of Police and that Plano Officer (and, I'm sure, other officers), Powell is one of those officers. Which is why Officer Powell won't be wearing a badge much longer.

 

I don't want to feel angry again rewatching that video, but didn't the officer say something like "I can screw you over if I want to?" It had nothing to do w/ the job, just a power trip at that point.

And I never said I don't have to stop if a cop asks me to.

BTW, I would've done what Moats did, traffic wise if I were in that situation. If I get traffic tickets so my wife can see my mother-in-law's final minutes, it's worth it. I guess that's where we differ swoly.

 

Agreed.....

But hey, at least he can get a job at the local mall, and a shiny new badge with golf cart.

DD

 

No, sir, not in any count. I don't even have "cop" friends. In fact, I wouldn't want to be a copy myself, or don't ask people who were former cops "hey, wasn't it cool to have all that power?", either.

No, I don't expect everyone to act that way, I only would like for everyone to observe the laws the state already has.

I am making this case now about obeying the law, not about someone dying... but then, on the other side of the coin, it seems to be o.k. for everyone else to make the case that says that you can break the rules for special occasions. I guess if everyone else feels that's o.k., then you do it your way. I am just saying I would not.

That is completely sane and sound and agreeable, professorjay. The officer was WAY OUT OF LINE with those comments and threats. Those are not the statements of an officer conducting himself appropriately. He was wrong for that.

 

I would stop as well. Most cops would give you a police escort to the hospital after seeing the situation. Doubtful this one would though.

 

If you don't stop, you risk the chance of the cop thinking it's a chase. You should always stop. While he may have been justified in breaking the law, it is still breaking the law and it is always best to pull over and explain the situation. I don't know if it would have helped when dealing with this officer, but it would help most of the time.

 

I agree. If I had just left my house and had another good 10 miles to go, I'd stop and ask for an escort.
If I were 2 blocks from the hospital, like Moats was, I'd keep going and ask for forgiveness later.