This is one of those, "Sit down, remove breakables from reach, and get the duct tape ready 'cause your head is going to explode" sorts of stories.
FTR, Dallas's newest police chief has been a good influence on that ate-up organization. The last guy the mayor had fired ended up in Atlanta and is in the middle of a corruption scandal.
Other than that, I'll let the story speak for itself.
DMN Story:
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/latestnews/stories/032609dnmetcopstop.3e9c080.htmlVideo:
http://www.dallasnews.com/video/index.html?nvid=345572&shu=1Blog posting by local journo:
http://blog.beliefnet.com/crunchycon/2009/03/robert-powell-worst-person-in.htmlRobert Powell, worst person in the worldNow that Bernie Madoff is in prison, we have a new Worst Person in the World. Make sure you're sitting down when you read this story, and be sure to watch the video component that goes with it.
Here's how the story starts:
As he rushed his family to the hospital, 26-year-old NFL running back Ryan Moats rolled through a red light. A Dallas police officer pulled their SUV over outside the emergency room.
Moats and his wife explained that her mother was dying inside the hospital.
"You really want to go through this right now?" Moats pleaded. "My mother-in-law is dying. Right now!"
The officer, 25-year-old Robert Powell, was unmoved. He spent long minutes writing Moats a ticket and threatened him with arrest.
"I can screw you over," the officer told Moats. "I'd rather not do that."
The scene last week, captured by a dashboard video camera, prompted apologies and the promise of an investigation from Dallas police officials Wednesday.
Mark Davis, a Dallas talk radio host, played excerpts from Moats' pleading with the cop to let him go to his mother-in-law's bedside. It was absolutely, transcendently infuriating! This cop, this sadistic jackass cop, was having fun torturing this poor guy. Even the hospital security guards came up to the officer and said, look, his mother-in-law really is dying, please let him go. Nothing doing. Finally, when Officer Powell had had enough of messing with Moats's head, he turned him loose.
His mother-in-law was already dead.
Flat out, this cop needs to be fired, and he needs to be fired today. Or at least disciplined to the max. This case showcases the difference between power and authority.
Police of necessity have extraordinary powers over the rest of us, because we invest them with a great deal of authority, trusting them not to abuse it. It's a social contract between the police and the policed. Most cops have a deep respect for the law. And then there are cops like Robert Powell, who, if his behavior in this case is indicative of his professional temperament, enjoys lording his power over people. To listen to the audio of his encounter with the Moats family is to hear the voice of a penny-ante sadist abusing his discretion.
Cops like Robert Powell undermine the authority of the entire police department by reinforcing fears that police are unaccountable to anybody. As it happens, we have a good police chief in Dallas, and I'm sure he'll come down on Powell like a ton of bricks, even if he doesn't think this incident warrants firing. The worst punishment for Powell is knowing that his jackassery cost a fellow human being the chance to tell a dying family member goodbye. There's no making up for that.
Finally, this makes me think back with appreciation to the Texas state trooper who pulled us over four years ago when my wife was speeding on Hwy 80, about 12 miles from Dallas. We were coming back from a trip to Louisiana, and the entire family was horribly, horribly sick with a stomach virus. The kids had vomited into coolers almost the entire trip, and Julie joined them at the halfway point. It was so bad I tried to check us into a hotel, but all the hotels were full of refugees from Hurricane Rita. So we pressed on. The virus hit me in Shreveport, and I was so sick I couldn't even drive. Poor Julie, who was marginally better, had to take the wheel. On that last leg, we were desperate to get home and get everybody to bed. That's when the state trooper pulled us over.
Julie was green at the gills, and she explained to him the situation. He shone his flashlight in on all the kids and me. We must have looked horrible, and smelled horrible. He let us go with a warning. It was compassionate and just, the kind of action that makes one have more trust in authority, because that particular police officer exercised it so wisely.
UPDATE: The Dallas Morning News now has the entire 17-minute dashcam video on its site. It's really unbelievable.
Go to the 13-minute mark; the nurse is down front saying that the mother in law is dying this very minute, that she's taking her last breaths ... and Officer Jackass decides to deliver a civics lecture to Moats.
