Sports

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

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

645 views | 2 Recommendations | 4 comments

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.

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jazzyzazzy

at 11:27 on March 27th, 2009

Hope they sack that cop.How sad that such a nincompoot of a cop can destroy such a meaningful day for the sake of acting all supremo, Ok no one should run a red light,that in its own way could have caused death or injury to other road users,But in this case no one was hurt by the young mans mistake considering his situation.So the cop should have helped him not hinder him with protocall, Compromises should have been made by the cop.Yet if it had been another cop he may have took the humane route of procedure help ! so sad the young man went through all that crap at what could only have been a very sorrowful time.God love him.As for the cop he was in this situation a cop out.

Gerardo Fernandez (not verified)

at 12:07 on March 27th, 2009

I bet if the NFL Player was White there would of been no problem.

JeffHuang

at 12:12 on March 27th, 2009

I agree with you jazzyzazzy. I think the best thing for him to do was to acknowledge he was wrong and just let him go in the hospital and deal with the situation. I think his ego got in the way and didn't want to look dumb/weak by apologizing. He wanted to get his point of authority across.

Roy C

at 12:23 on March 27th, 2009

NO. If the NFL player had been known to this guy as one, there would have been no problem. Yes, racism can be a factor here, but what makes you think he would have treated an unknown regular white guy any differently?

The man sound presumptious, if not arrogant.