Bleh...he's lucky he's an NFL player.

an average dude like me would be in court now, waiting to pay a ticket.

The day before, police commanders said Powell told them he saw nothing wrong with his behavior even after reviewing video of the episode

that was taken from the article, he was forced to apologize. he didn't do it because he actually felt bad.

Official typically means someone elected or appointed to a policy-making position.

Like I alluded to earlier, the government cannot depive any citizen of property without due process of law. ("No person shall be ... deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law." Fifth Amendment, US Constitution; and " . . . nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law." Fourteenth Amendment, US Constitution)

This applies to more than criminal proceedings. As long as the officer is employed, salary is a property right.

(And all of this is without knowing what the terms of his contract might require or provide about leave with- or without pay pending an investigation.)

Hoodini, even lucky NFL players can be devastated by the death of a loved one. And, I doubt he felt very "lucky" that night losing his mother in law and being detained from her bed side in her final moments by an over zealous and possibly racist cop....

This just gets better
 

DALLAS — Maritza Thomas, the wife of NFL linebacker Zach Thomas, saw a familiar face as she watched the video of Officer Robert Powell detaining Houston Texans [team stats] running back Ryan Moats as he and his family rushed to a hospital to see a dying loved one. That face was Powell’s.

On July 27, 2008, while her husband was at training camp with the Cowboys in Oxnard, Calif., Maritza Thomas was pulled over by Powell for an illegal U-turn near NorthPark Center.

Maritza Thomas was issued five tickets by Powell, four of which were later dismissed. Thomas was handcuffed, placed in the back of a police cruiser, spent about three hours in the Dallas County Jail and was threatened with the possibility of spending the night behind bars.




link

This is slightly off topic...but wasn't Zach Thomas married to Jason Taylor's sister? Or was it the other way around, Jason Taylor was married to Zach Thomas' sister?

Sister is married to Taylor..yes

Did the officer know he was an NFL player? It didn't come up in the clip I saw - but maybe I missed it.

NFL player or no, how hard is it to follow the man into the hospital and see if he is lying? If he isn't, how about a little humanity?

Couldn't have been too difficult since a nurse and a securtiy officer came OUTSIDE to tell the cop he wasnt lying.

Did you watch the video or read the story? Shit man.

Lucky? He missed the chance to give his last words to his dying mother in law because of a piece of shit cop on a power trip. I'm sure that no-ticket just makes it all better.

....and the Chief of Dallas Police made it a point to recognize the fact that Moats never once made an attempt to use his NFL status as a means to get out of the situation.

Exactly. Not to mention that Moat's wife was the first to step out of the car, and the cop pulled his gun out on her.

Going through a red light is serious, but it's not like it doesn't happen all the time. It doesn't require the police officer to point his gun at anyone.

When another police officer & a nurse went out to validate Moat's story, that should have been the end of it...but noooo, the douchebag police officer kept on it.

However, it was somewhat of a coincidence that Moats WAS an NFL player.

Question: If Moats was an ordinary man (which is what he was treated like) with no claim to fame or whatever, would we still have heard about this story?

Regardless of my last post, I'll say that this doesn't surprise me. If this guy is guilty of these allegations, hopefully he will be fired.

Hmmmm...probably not. Well, we might have heard the story (as much as I hate to say it) if Moats had been white.