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Dallas Police Department apologizes over Robert Powell/ Ryan Moats affair

U F B . .yet typical of a cop.

I think most policemen are honorable. But some, like Powell, are there I believe only because of power. They like to be able to “screw” someone over. It looks like to me this is criminal. Or it should be. I don't understand why it took days for this story to come out. There was a coverup it seems. Whoever looked at this tape and did not tell should loose their job.

Powell should never work again. Let him live under a bridge.

I hope someone tells if Powell laughed and bragged about this incident to other officers.

I think Kunkle should fire Powell immediately. This punk was on a total power trip and abused his authority. It's bad cops like this that are a dishonor to the police force. He obviously abused his authority and is a racist little punk ass bitch. FIRE HIS ASS HE DONT DESERVE THE JOB

Good work, Officer Cletus! Another case of DWB solved!
Is it just me, or does anyone else hear the “boy” in that officers' voice every other word?
It's a pity police officers don't have to carry malpractice insurance. This redneck dumbass would be uninsurable and out of a job.
Wonder if he ever apologized?

Not all cops are like this but this is clearly a cop that traded his Ku Klux Klan hood for a Blue Uniform.

JJ DADDY-HO —— WHAT THE HELL R U TALKING ABOUT BOY!

I think Officer Powell needs to be fired today. We don't need police that are on a power trip working the streets.

F'ing Pig Cops…I hope they more than fire this F'ing Pig Rouge Cop. I've never been in trouble in my 42 years but this is EXACTLY why I dont trust or wont help the police do anything. Abuse of power and authority. I pray that he loses his job and has to work 2 or 3 jobs to barely feed himself the rest of his pathetic life. What a bum. $%#)&*. %*(&%$(&(E(&. $%^&$*E(#(). I want to Scream!!!!

Sometimes these people forget that they are “public servants” and who pays their salaries. Disgusting!

This is so unbelievable I had to comment about this. Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle , please terminate this police officer's employment. End of story. This cop was neither protecting nor serving the public and I would sign a petition to have him fired. Can you imagine if this happened to you or your family? He should have gone inside the hospital with them, and maybe even parked their SUV. He could have shot me in the back as I ran up to the ED doors to be at my dying mother's bedside. This is proof that so many of these traffic cops are on a power trip. Now it is on national TV for all to see and not be just a he said she said story. Please Chief Kunkle, finish your internal investigation and fire this guy. I am sure there are plenty of good men and woman who can take his place. Sorry about the rant

This totally disgusts me. There is absolutely NO justification for this “PIG's” behavior and that's exactly what he is. I am truly appalled by the video I just saw. I am white, live in Houston, and by no means do I find this officers interrogation and threats justifiable. I also find it sickening that he has a vacation with pay! He needs and deserves to be FIRED – PERIOD!!! Apparently, he gets no respect (which he doesn't deserve, obviously) and was trying to get it here and “throw his weight around”. I have nothing against “good” police officers as I have many sheriff friends, as well as some family members who are officers. I do not wish anyone to die in this cop's family; however, when it does happen to him, I'd like to see someone pull him over and put him thru the same stress he did to Mr. Moats. WAKE UP DALLAS POLICE! GET RID OF THIS GUY NOW!!! I agree with Twyla that we wouldn't have heard of this if he weren't an NFL player…. there should be a website (if there isn't already) for things like this and the “average” person being treated brutally by BAD cops. I don't usually comment on much but this totally disgusts me. May God Bless your family Mr. Moats.

The officer needs to be terminated. Someone with the inability to handle a difficult situation such as this tragic incident does not belong in public service, and that is what policemen are – public servants.

You guys are idiots this officer did his job, Moats ran two lights selfishly disregarding the safety of the other drivers in the area. and then jumped out of his vehicle before the officer came to the window!!! The officer followed protocol by drawing his weapon, in this instance. I'm just glad that Moats didn't kill anyone elses mother, or mother-in-law, or children with his reckless actions. You all need to thik about the actions of the driver as well as the police officer before you judge.

Steven-417 get a life buddy. Your a idiots ass white….

I agree that when a person jumps out of his vehicle after being stopped, it is just cause for an officer to pull his weapon. However, after Moats explained his situation, Officer Powell continued to act inappropriately. While his drawing the weapon is excusable (and even warranted), the rest of his behavior clearly is not. Further, Moats did not endanger anyone with his driving. As you will see in the video, there were no others in or near the intersection where he ran the red light. Further, it has been discovered that this particular light was a malfunctioning light, anyway, due to a power outage. Even if it weren't however, there is no problem running a stop sign or red light if there is no other traffic to contend with and there is an emergency at hand, which clearly there was in this situation. If you were in this situation, you (upon coming to the red light and seeing no traffic to prevent your continued path) would have likely done the same thing in the face of this emergency.

It's also interesting, Steven, that your last comment is “…before you judge.” That is hypocritcal, seeing as how your very first line is “You guys are idiots….” How is it okay for you to determine others are being judgemental because they don't agree with you, when you yourself are guilty of first judging them?

you have got to be kidding me… “reckless actions”? The man rolled slowly through a red light with his flasher on when there was no traffic–did you watch the tape? Protocol? EVEN IF the drawing the weapon to approach the vehicle was justified, once you have distraut family members in a HOSPITAL PARKING LOT saying their mother is dying, you accompany the family respectfully to the hospital room to confirm their story, then you drive off to stop real criminals. AT THE VERY LEAST, once you have other officers coming to tell you, yes the mother in law is dying, nurses repeatedly pleading with you to let the man see his dying mother in law, as a HUMAN BEING, not even as a police officer, you have the DUTY to let the guy go see his mother. Doing his job? give me a break

Steven you arguments are ill conceived, insensitive, and totally without merit. The law makes exceptions for disregarding traffic laws in case of an emergency. There are hundreds of thousands of recorded instances of this. It is the police officer's duty to discern accurately and in a timely manner when such exigent circumstances exist. And if those cirumstances do exist, the officer should offer assistance to the citizens instead of abusing his discretionary power to impede them.

Any rational adult should recognize that rushing to the hospital to see a close family member who has minutes left to live is an emergency. The Dallas Police administration confirmed this assessment by condemning officer Powell's actions and dismissing the ticket that was issued. The officer should have been expecting an emergency when a vehicle with emergency flashers is ignoring traffic laws to get to a hospital in the middle of the night. Even after the emergency is confirmed by hospital personnel and another officer on the scene, still ignores the by now glaring emergency and proceeds to spend precious minutes to lecture Ryan Moats on attitude.

Police officers are not supposed to play judge, jury or executioner. They are only supposed to enforce the laws in the minimum extent to protect the public from harm. Here Powell plays cop, judge, jury and executioner. There is no rational reason that Powell could not have let Moats procede to his mother-in-law's room and write the ticket afterwards. What's worse is that according to press reports, Powell still contends he did nothing wrong. Powell has demonstrated that he is far more likely to present a danger to society than anything Moats is even alleged to have done. Unfortunately the law only supports firing Powell as the worst punishment that can be placed upon him for his inhumane actions.

Who do we write to get this loser fired??

You're an idiot and probably a loser cop too!! The other cop verified his story and ego jackass said, “ok, I'm almost done with him”. The nurse came out to tell the cop that they had very little time and he still wouldn't let his ego go. That cop needs to rot in hell.

Are you telling me this woman was rushed to the hospital dieing and family was notified. Or was she already in the
hospital knowing her illness and the hospital was not in contact with this family in the days leading up to her death

I honestly believe that this was a 'Black Thing' – I am sure had the suspect been white, the officer would have let them go.
Racisim continues to show it's ugly face in Texas.

this guy should be fired immediately! There is no excuse for treating anyone like that! He could plainly see that these people were in distress and trying to get into the hospital. He could have done all that he had to do inside with them.

This policeman is on a power trip like many others! There are a lot of good guys also, but they need to weed these kind of people out of law enforcement!

Disgraceful! I watched both videos and these people never acted like they were trying to do anything but get in the hospital to see their Mom.

I lived in Dallas for a year and really enjoyed the city and the friends I made there. After this incident I will never ever return to Dallas if the Dallas PD does not fire this idiot for his unexcusable actions. Its a reflection on DPD and law enforcement agencies everywhere. This idiot needs to be fired immediately and given a job guarding the gorrila crap at the Dallas Zoo! That's where his talents would be most useful!

Ladies and Gents, let us put our common sense thinking caps on; and forget about ideology, racism, stereotype, and sarcasm remarks and behavior. This was a common sense situation that needed to be address as such. I served 8 year as a military police, and 3 years currently as a police officer in a metro city. There are codes and creeds you live and serve by, common sense, as well as, tons of training, videos, academics courses, street trainings, and OJT ( on the job training). I have been in civilian and police cars that have ran or roll through traffic lights for no valued or concrete reasons. In this incident, Powell's stereotype attitudes may have hinder his ability to make a solid common sense assessment and judgement. ALL COPS ARE HUMAN BEING WITH INTEGRITY, RESPECT AND COMPASSION. WE WEAR THE BADGE TO SERVE AND PROTECT EVERYONE. DON'T FORGET, WE ARE PUBLIC SERVANTS AND ARE PAY BY ALL OF YOU TAXPAYERS. I hope this incident would not make you lose hope, commitment and trustworthiness in your local police departments. We are working diligently to serve and protect our citizens.

Outrageous!!!! Does anyone know if a petition has been circulated for the firing of this idiot? Please do tell.

As a Law Enforcement Professional the Police Officer acted accordingly when it came to the lawful traffic stop. I do however, feel he went overboard with the the additional comments ” I can screw you… and such”. There was no need for it. As you can see during the stop he was dealing with a lot of variables, calling the radio, observing someone exiting a vehicle who fail to stop for him…I think this guy did his job.. and my hats goes off to him. v/r

So they gave this SS officer a paid vacation. Great,,Hitler would be proud of your dept.
I bet you dont like my attitude so I will not visit or do buiissness in Dallas until tou nerter this animal

dear robert powell:
i hope n my lifetime that i never meet u because spittin on u @ this time is the least of ur worries i hope u lose ur job. and i hope u can never find a job in any sort of law inforcement i pray for ur soul and pray n ur life time u have 2 go though something much worst than u have dished out!!! but then again this the crap that comes from texas just look @ bush!

this sends out a terrible picture of the officers supposedly protecting our lives. whataPRICK

If there is not a heart under the badge, there shouldn't be a badge on the chest

I have read your comment and I still dont know where you stand on this incident.
Are you defending this cop? He just a flawed human? what a load of crap!!
“We are working diligently to serve and protect our citizens”… well that does seem to be the question. I think that is complete bullshit.

well then..You sir are probably a complete jackass. No one is questioning if the cop was wrong. Quit defending him. The police chief has said that this is an embarassing incident. Quit defending him.

wow. looks like this 25 year old didn't know how to handle the power. the power went to someone's head. I hope they fire him and that he is ruined after this. what an a-hole. I can understand if he was confused by the situation at first, but after figuring out what is going on and the comments he made on tape…sorry…can't support that. Great job in the Police Chief making a swift statement. I know the job can be trying, but no way to act.

DWB=driving while black
Insinuation of a rascist officer.

If you are from the South then you would understand the “BOY” comment.

Overboard is an under statement! I have two brothers who are Police Officer and all they can say was, “Powell is in some deep mess and he needs to get ready for Internal Affairs/Termination!” Run the light & stop sign, was wrong on Moat's part, but when it was done He turned on his HAZARD LIGHT! this should've been an indicator for Powell to check the matter and move on!

Even after he KNEW that this guy's mother was dying, he still kept him outside. Serve and protect? I don't think so. This dick is on a power trip. Transfer him off the street where he can do no harm.

not all of them

about as smart as a pig too