Subscribe to Moronmeter!Officer Robert Powell Resigns from Dallas Police Department
Officer Robert Powell on ABC
The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Dallas police Officer Robert Powell resigned yesterday.
Officer Powell was thrust into the glare of national media last week following a traffic stop, in which he detained NFL player Ryan Moats for approximately fifteen minutes outside the Baylor Regional Medical Center emergency room entrance. Moats was rushing his wife to be with her mother, who lay inside the hospital dying.
After repeated appeals by hospital nurses and another police officer to let Moats go into the hospital to be with his wife and mother-in-law, Powell cited Moats and released him. Unfortunately, Moats’ mother-in-law passed away while Powell kept Moats in the parking lot.
Over the weekend, another complaint involving Officer Powell was raised by an NFL player. The second complaint involved the wife of former Dallas Cowboy’s player Zach Thomas, Maritza Thomas. In July 2008, Mrs. Thomas and her mother were stopped by Officer Powell for an illegal U-turn. Mrs. Thomas was detained for approximately five hours and charged by Officer Powell with multiple traffic offenses. Except for the original illegal U-turn charge, all of there charges were dropped.
The Officer Powell saga won’t end here though. The district attorneys in two counties are reviewing other stops that Officer Powell made:
“We saw the videotape on television, and it was an outrage,” said Terri Moore, top assistant to Dallas County District Attorney Craig Watkins. “So we wanted, obviously, to see if there were any pending cases and to see his conduct.”
The Dallas Morning News provides a very interesting story about one DWI stop that Officer Powell made.
Powell can then be heard telling another officer that he didn’t smell any alcohol on the man but was going to check him for intoxication anyway.
The man refused to blow into a Breathalyzer but did perform field sobriety tests of speech and balance. Powell arrested the man on a DWI charge.
Later, at a state hearing to determine whether the man would lose his driver’s license for refusing the breath test, Powell contradicted what he said on video.
“And you asked him to step out of the car for what reason?” the man’s attorney, Kimberly Griffin Tucker, asked Powell, according to a transcript.
“Because I smelled alcohol on his breath,” Powell replied.
When Tucker then played the video, Powell gave another explanation.
“Well, I didn’t say exactly when I smelled the alcohol,” he said. “Sometimes when I get people out, I can smell it more than in their vehicle because a lot of times people won’t exactly look at me.”
The judge, unconvinced that Powell had probable cause, declined to suspend the man’s license in the December 2007 arrest. And Denton County prosecutors dismissed the DWI charge. They didn’t feel they had enough evidence to make a case, prosecutor Jamie Beck said.
Wow. That sounds like he came awfully close to lying under oath.
Personally, I don’t think most people have what it takes to be good police officers.
When I first heard about this incident, I thought that Officer Powell needed to gain a little more maturity and compassion (along with a little less attitude).
Now… I just think former Officer Powell is like most people.
What do you think should happen with Officer Robert Powell?
- Fire him - he doesn't need to be on the police force. (80%, 48 Votes)
- Bench him - he doesn't need to be interacting with the public. (15%, 9 Votes)
- Nothing - he's just doing his job. (5%, 3 Votes)
Total Voters: 60
Loading ...Link:
Dallas police officer resigns over Ryan Moats’ traffic stop | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Latest News.
Officer Robert Powell on ABCNews.com | Moronmeter.com.
Officer Robert Powell: An Apology, Some Support, and a Blast from the Past | Moronmeter.com.
Officer Robert Powell Won’t Be Dallas’ 2009 Police Officer of the Year | Moronmeter.com.
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