What a Jerk?

A traffic stop, a dying family member, a ticket, a deathbed goodbye missed. It sounds bad enough, but it's the police dash cam video that has incensed North Texas.

The story is even getting national attention, perhaps because the man involved is Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats.

Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle held a news conference to acknowledge the situation.

"In the course of everything we deal with this year, this is more embarrassing and troublesome because it just seems to be so unreasonable based on the circumstances," said Kunkle.

Callers from across Dallas-Fort Worth and America tied up 911 lines and lines at Dallas Police headquarters to complain about officer Robert Powell's handling of a routine traffic stop for running a red light.

And NBCDFW's discussion boards have been on fire with more than 350 comments about Powell's behavior.

Gregg Malone thinks ego is the problem for Powell: "Another Bad Decision Made By An Macho-Peace-Officer With A Badge. I hear the comments made by the peanut gallery that Moats “could have” killed someone at the red light. Fact is: that’s not what happened. The officer should have made his decisions based upon what he observed and not based on a thousand other dire reasons or what “could have” happened. Unfortunately, ego clouded this officers’ judgment to see what was really going on. Even the nurse’s pleads doesn’t wake-up Powell from his hazy carnage of bad discretion and poor decision making."

Anonymous summed it up this way: "The officer should have recognized they were in an emergency room entrance and after hospital personnel advised him of the situation and a Plano officer. He should have changed his approach according to the situation. This is a failure of chief Kunkle training this officer properly. SAD SAD"

Nilsa s believes in karma: "The police officer was wrong and should have permitted him to spend a few mins. with his mother in law. What goes around comes around right back to you. SO BE PREPARED YOU IDIOT."

Anon wants to know where the compassion was that night: "Seems to me common decency would dictate the officer let them go to their relatives bedside. He could have followed them and taken care of the citation after wards or even just have forgotten about it all together. Seems he had enough people telling him what was going on, but he didn't listen to anyone."

Andrea cautions people to leave race out of the equation: "I don't think the race card should be played here. I think the cop was being a jerk and would have done this to anyone. I feel really bad for the family - what a stupid thing to have to deal with when your relative is on their deathbed. I agree that the officer should be fired. While I respect police officers in general and are thankful for their service to protect our cities, I think there are a few too many that let their "above the law" egos take precedence over doing a good job and serving the community. Maybe police officers should be required to take a "police etiquette" course so they understand that there is a fine line between enforcing the law and being a public servant. "

Deltaboy has a solution that doesn't include firing: "When the Nurse and the Plano officer came out and told the DPD officer Moats story was legit that should have been the end of it. It looks and sounds to me like the Young Cop was on a power trip. He should get a letter of Reprimand and 30 days no pay some sensitivity training. "

MansfieldMike takes Powell's side in the debate: "Police Officer Powell was doing his job. Moats endangered the public by disregarding a traffic control device, and deserved what he had coming to him. I commend Officer Powell for defending his actions, and applaud every law enforcement officer out there for the great job they do on a daily basis."

CC was also one of the few who sided with Powell: "Yea, try dealing with the public everyday like a police officer does. How many people tell stories when they get pulled over? He was doing his job."

Meme said "Sounds like a good ethics topic to me."

Disregard that Moats is an NFL player, his pro-football status has nothing to do with what happened and he never mentioned it to Powell during exchange. Put yourself in his shoes.

Is Powell just a jerk who needs a course in compassion or was he just doing his job and is getting a raw deal?
 
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