ESPN: Officer delayed Moats as relative died

[Phoenix-Talon]

Would you do it? Have you done it? What;s your take on running a red light ...

I've done it ...but only after sitting at the red light for an extraordinary period of time and determining that the road was safe to proceed. I would use the same discretion if I had to run a red light in an emergency.

PT

 

[MapleLeaf]

Geez, what a sad story.

#1 the cop should be fired.

#2 Why is this automatically a racial thing? Could it be the guy is just a jerk to everyone?

...you can assume that this is a racial thing, but there seems to be alot more to this than just being a jerk.

This officer has awareness issues. He doesn't seem to well versed in dealing with and learning to reduce the temperature of a heated situation.

From the tape one can clearly see that taking some time to listen to what the man was saying in context of the situation and where they were stopped would merit the officer to investigate.

I'm not certain that this officer should consider street law enforcement as a career anymore.

He clearly didn't display the skills needed to assess and handle this incident.

I think most would have let the gentleman go into the hospital, take down the information (plates, etc) and choose another time to confirm the story.

 

[JonJon]

Would you do it? Have you done it? What;s your take on running a red light ...

I've done it ...but only after sitting at the red light for an extraordinary period of time and determining that the road was safe to proceed. I would use the same discretion if I had to run a red light in an emergency.

PT

I did before, but here was the secenario:
I hade just drove 10 hours to Kentucky and gotten off at my interstate exit at 3:30 in the AM. There was no traffic what so ever in sight and the red light was extremely long. I sat there for at least 4 minutes, easing up to the line hoping to trigger the light switch meter on the road, but it never turned green so I just went ahead and turned left.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

I did before, but here was the secenario:
I hade just drove 10 hours to Kentucky and gotten off at my interstate exit at 3:30 in the AM. There was no traffic what so ever in sight and the red light was extremely long. I sat there for at least 4 minutes, easing up to the line hoping to trigger the light switch meter on the road, but it never turned green so I just went ahead and turned left.

I heard that after like 2 or 3 in the morning, you can run some red lights if there is no traffic, sometimes they don't change

that's more in rural areas, the boonies, small towns

so you weren't actually breaking the law

 

[justbob]

Have you ever been rushing to a hospital with your wife in the car in order to see your mother-in-law in the very last minutes of her life?

No --But I have pulled over to help a guy that was changing a flat. His very sweet wife was talking to me the whole time he was changing the tire...Just as he was about to drive off I was informed he was wanted for killing his wife in another state. I have pulled over a car and had 6 huge men come out the car toward me ..Fortunatley another officer had pulled in behind me and pumped his shotgun. All 6 decided to get back in the car. I have had people lie about emergencies and tell the turth about emergencies. They can all be sorted out...but the second several people leave a car they are putting the officer at risk..And the officer or anyone else is going to be pumped up and will probably say things he shouldn't...

I said the offficer and the driver and the passengers all did things wrong..
But because it was the police you would rather jumb all over him. I am just saying, if you are saying it because you hate the police I can't change your mind. If you are saying it because you think you know how things should be and you could have done it alot better---unless you have been there, telling everyone how to act is stupid.. And that does not have anything to with my spelling or leaving the "ed" off of the of a word because I am typing to fast..

Having an emergency is one thing---But if the guy ran a redlight and killed someone trying to get to the hospital to see someone else before they die, then whose case would you have been on. And who would God be judging.

 

[JonJon]

I heard that after like 2 or 3 in the morning, you can run some red lights if there is no traffic, sometimes they don't change

that's more in rural areas, the boonies, small towns

so you weren't actually breaking the law

Never heard of that, but cool if true. You just added 15 minutes to my year, thanks!

 

[adamknite]

I heard that after like 2 or 3 in the morning, you can run some red lights if there is no traffic, sometimes they don't change

that's more in rural areas, the boonies, small towns

so you weren't actually breaking the law

Only when it's flashing red, then it just acts like a stop sign.

 

[DFWJC]

Geez, what a sad story.

#1 the cop should be fired.

I think probation and or demotion. I'm appalled by what he did but at age 25, I think he may have room to learn from this screw up.

#2 Why is this automatically a racial thing? Could it be the guy is just a jerk to everyone?

I agree...it's the default these days to play that card...especially if it is white on black. If the cop was black and the driver white, not so much so.
There really could have been a race factor, but we don't know that and the cops actions were pathetic regardless of race. So agreed, why bother playing the card?

 

[JoeSmooth]

It's hilarious that you question his intelligence with that sentence.

What does "you have lower the IQ around.." mean?

I appreciate that MrMom. It was obviously a weak attempt by justbob to insult me but I have a right to my opinion. I have been harassed by the police at least twice for no reason so I can somewhat empathize with Moats.

 

[ComicBookGuy]

Bottom line is that this guy is not a good police officer. He hasn't figured out how to adapt to a situation. When Moats gets out of his vehicle he is clearly upset. Instead of calming him down, the officer gets an attitude, goads him, and tells how easily he could screw Moats over. Any rational person would know that this would not defuse an already tense situation. You cannot do stuff like that; it is an abuse of power.

 

[khiladi]

No we are acting exactly like we have been there --and you are acting like someone who never has ...You would rather sit there and call cops names.
I have lived the real life. I have been there and I now train officers. Most have a college education...A vechile stop is extremely dangerious..And people coming out of a car is an instant threat to the officer...The officer does not have the benifit


of knowing who he is stopping and even if he does know the person ,he may not know the person frame of mind...Set back and judge all you want to--making statements that cops are crap defines who you are -not the officers

There it goes. The 'hero' complex perpetuated by cops as if they are always out there busting the bad-guys, when the majority of time they are out there at dough-nut shops and real crimes continue to rise in places not at hospitals while nobody does anything about it. And further, a 'college' education doesn't mean a person has a degree that can earn him a high-paying job in society. A degree in criminology or sports psychology from a college institution doesn't validate the being a cop in most cases.

 

[Concord]

Thanks. I prefer for the idiots to show their true colors. Helps me manage my ignore list much more efficiently.

Well if the option was there to ignore yourself...then you would be on to something.

 

[khiladi]

No --But I have pulled over to help a guy that was changing a flat. His very sweet wife was talking to me the whole time he was changing the tire...Just as he was about to drive off I was informed he was wanted for killing his wife in another state. I have pulled over a car and had 6 huge men come out the car toward me ..Fortunatley another officer had pulled in behind me and pumped his shotgun. All 6 decided to get back in the car. I have had people lie about emergencies and tell the turth about emergencies. They can all be sorted out...but the second several people leave a car they are putting the officer at risk..And the officer or anyone else is going to be pumped up and will probably say things he shouldn't...

I said the offficer and the driver and the passengers all did things wrong..
But because it was the police you would rather jumb all over him. I am just saying, if you are saying it because you hate the police I can't change your mind. If you are saying it because you think you know how things should be and you could have done it alot better---unless you have been there, telling everyone how to act is stupid.. And that does not have anything to with my spelling or leaving the "ed" off of the of a word because I am typing to fast..


Having an emergency is one thing---But if the guy ran a redlight and killed someone trying to get to the hospital to see someone else before they die, then whose case would you have been on. And who would God be judging.

This is exactly the complex I am referring to. Out of the 2 incidents where people are pulled over, there are hundreds where the people pulled over were harmless civilians that weren't doing anything to endanger the public. It is this type of blatant exxaggeration and sensationalism spurred by shows like COPs which somehow are meant to justify the notion that these situations justify when a cop reacts like an egotistical maniac. What is further laughable is when cops justify their actions with such sensational incidents in a situation where a car is flashing their warning lights and going across a red-light straight to a hospital and the lady in the car is emotionally disturbed saying her mother-in-law is about to die. While human beings do have the capability to do some stupid things to get out of being caught in a crime, it is utmost stupidity to assume that the majority of people do things like this and it somehow justifies the behavior of the cop.

 

[khiladi]

BTW, there are plenty of situations where cops themselves engage in reckless behavior to stop a 'potential' criminal, though the benefits of catching him definitely don't out-weigh the risks of somebody else getting hurt. Speed chases are definitely one of many such situations, where the need to catch a petty thief leads to that thief jumping lanes trying to out-run cops, while other cars have to swerve to avoid them, in the process running into curbs and off the road. I've seen plenty of times where cops pull over a car that has violated some petty traffic law, and the cop is sitting there in the middle of the road totally oblivious to the fact that he has just created a huge back-up right behind him, simply to ticket a guy a hundred dollars, yet that massive traffic situation impacts the economics way more than the violation itself. It is called EGO.

 

[MadCow]

Question???

​

●If the officer felt threatened by the situation, why didn't he call for immediate backup?

​

●If the officer felt that the parties exiting the vehicle were a threat, why did he let Moats wife continue on into the hospital? (I agree that it was wise on his part, but why?)

​

●Isn't the responsibility of the police officer to restore order to a conflict? Is this not part of his training?

​

●What would have happened had Moats stopped, explained the dire situation to the officer and the officer still acted like the jerk that he was? Then what? If Moats drove off at that point could he have been charged with another more substantial offense and possibly put his own life in danger?

IMO Moats' minor offense was negligible compared to the unremorseful, "greater than thou" attitude that the officer exhibited. He could have easily brought immediate order compliant to his authority as a police officer; however, he CHOSE to be an agitator.

How can anyone defend this behavior? Yes, a police officer should be afforded respect due to the tremendous hazards that come with the job; however, conversely an officer is called / held to a greater responsibilty than the general public.

IMO Officer Powell didn't abide by his training or any morality/compassion that any decent person has shown him throughout his 25 years of life.

 

[RESIN8]

Funny thing is usually cops back each other up on issues vs the public. In this case even the police chief agreed the cop was an idiot.

 

[InDakWeTrust]

25 is way too young to be a cop on patrol with a gun. They should put them on desk duty until they are like 28 or something.

Good thing you don't work in law enforcement, I will be 21 or 22 and be a street officer/State Trooper, and if this ignorant, generic judgment you made is based upon the moronic actions of this officer you are way off base and jump to conclusions awfully quick.

You are making a judgment just like the officer.

I now see why this guy had a hard decision to make. But he was still wrong, there are officers that do much, much worse abusing their powers.

Just because this was videotaped and involved a NFL player it gets the spotlight. I am sure stuff like this happens more than once every 20 years.

I just wish people wouldn't crucify someone so fast, I am sure there are doctors that are illegally performing malpractice right now, screwing up some other family, the public needs to hear more of that instead of this.

The officer can make this right with a public apology to the family, is department and himself, or else it will come back and bite him in the behind IMO.

My prayers are with Moats and his family, because in a situation like that, time is of the utmost importance and means the world when you have a loved one at his or her deathbed in a hospital.

 

[Concord]

Funny thing is usually cops back each other up on issues vs the public. In this case even the police chief agreed the cop was an idiot.

Exactly.

You can spin it anyway you want...but you don't see cops calling out cops even if they do have video evidence.

They wait or say nothing.

But not this time.

Hmm.

 

[links18]

What's messed up, is that the cop has no obligation to issue a traffic ticket on the spot. He had the license plate number and I am assuming he got Moats DL's number. He could have let them go at that point and verified their story later. If they were lying then he could have issued them a citation later or had the court issue a summons. Not that complicated. No freakin' reason to pull a gun on someone for a traffic offense in a hospital parking lot. I'll say it again. Cops shouldn't be put on solo patrol duty until they are at least 28 and have developed some maturity and worked with a vet for a few years.

 

[khiladi]

I just wish people wouldn't crucify someone so fast, I am sure there are doctors that are illegally performing malpractice right now, screwing up some other family, the public needs to hear more of that instead of this.

.

After reading your post, I do apologize to those cops I have offended that are out there doing their duty diligently and honestly. As a side note, the public needs to hear more about how the health care industry, primarily the insurance companies, has totally shot the medical profession to hell. The higher costs are justified under such pretenses of 'mal-practice' which has led to a problem for everybody, including both doctors and patients. The fact that people prey off these 'sensational' incidents is what causes problems in the first place. Well, this doctor made a mistake in surgery or cops get involved in dangerous incidents in minor traffic pull-overs, which justifies this behavior or that. Guess what? These are called exceptions for a reason. People aren't normally criminals and people don't normally ride with flashing lights through a red-light into a hospital, full of emotions as a plan to avoid getting arrested by a cop, because they committed some dangerous felony in some other state.