Sports

Officer detains NFL Ryan Moats from seeing dying Mother-in-law

by JeffHuang | March 27, 2009 at 08:30 am

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Ryan Moats of the Houston Texans was threatened at gunpoint by a police officer who detained the NFL player in a hospital parking lot while his mother-in-law was dying inside the building.

Ryan Moats was stopped by Officer Robert Powell outside Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano as his car rolled through a red light. The Ryan Moats Video has been circulating the internet as viewers can clearly hear the cop yelling "I can screw you over" at one point and "All right. I'm almost done" after he received confirmation that Moats' mother-in-law was indeed dying. Even after learning about the situation, the officer continued to detain the running-back for running a red light.

Family members, a hospital nurse and a Plano officer all pleaded with the officer to let Moats in the hospital, but Powell continued to lecture Moats and wrote him a ticket. By the time he entered the hospital, his mother-in-law had died.
Officer Robert Powell is currently on paid administrative leave while an internal investigation is pending.

Police officials said Powell told his commanders he believed he was doing his job, and that he drew his gun but did not point it. Kunkle said Powell was not necessarily acting improperly when he pulled his weapon out, but that once he realized what was happening should have put the gun back, apologized and offered to help the family in any way.