Ex-Eagle Moats has troubling run-in with cop
Up to the minute Philadelphia sports news, Phillies, 76ers, Eagles, Flyers, college sports and more from Philly.com
Ex-Eagle Moats has troubling run-in with cop
Sheil Kapadia, Philly.com
Catching up on some online reading this morning and stumbled upon a troubling story involving ex-Eagles running back Ryan Moats.
Moats, 26, joined the Houston Texans last season. He spent a couple of seasons with the Birds after being selected in the third round of the 2005 draft.
Per The Dallas-Morning News and WFAA-TV in Dallas/Fort Worth, Moats was hassled by a police officer in Texas as he rushed to the hospital to see his mother in-law, 45-year-old Jonetta Collinsworth, who was dying of breast cancer.
According to The Dallas-Morning News, Moats ran a red light with his hazard lights on a little after midnight on March 17. Moats said the only nearby driver waved him to go ahead.
Police officer Robert Powell followed Moats, who was driving with his wife, Collinsworth's father and her great aunt, to Plano Hospital.
Once they arrived, Moats' wife got out of the car.
"Get in there!" Powell yelled, per the reports. "Let me see your hands!"
"My mom is dying," she explained, ignoring his command and running into the hospital.
Moats, who stayed behind with Collinsworth's father, went back-and-forth with the officer.
"Just give me a ticket or whatever," he said.
"Shut your mouth," Powell told him. "You can cooperate and settle down, or I can just take you to jail for running a red light."
According to the reports, the hospital twice sent nurses outside to ask the officer to let Moats go, but he would not listen.
"If you want to keep this going, I'll just put you in handcuffs," Powell said, "and I'll take you to jail for running a red light."
The entire incident, which lasted either 13 or 20 minutes -- depending on the report -- was captured on video.
An excerpt from the Morning-News article:
Powell made several more points, including that the SUV was illegally parked. Moats replied "Yes sir" to each.
"Understand what I can do," Powell concluded. "I can tow your truck. I can charge you with fleeing. I can make your night very difficult."
"I understand," Moats responded. "I hope you'll be a great person and not do that."
By the time Powell finally issued a ticket to Moats and he got into the hospital, it was too late. His mother in-law had already died.
"I went up after she passed and held her hand, but she was already gone," Moats told WFAA-TV.
"For him to not even be sympathetic at all, and basically we're dogs or something and we don't matter, it basically shocked me," he added later.
Dallas police have launched an investigation, dropped the ticket and apologized, according to the reports.
This is just a brief summary of the incident. There are plenty more details.
Click here for The Dallas-Morning News report and here for the WFAA-TV report.
UPDATE: As some of you pointed out, the video is now posted on WFAA's Web site. Click here to watch it. It provides a clearer perspective than simply reading the quotes. If the clip makes its way to YouTube, please e-mail me and I'll embed it here.
UPDATE II: The videos have been posted on YouTube. They are in two parts. Below is the first part. I'll post the second part in a separate post. And I have to say the situation is even more disturbing when watching the whole thing unfold. Thanks to reader Usman for passing along the link.
Click here for the second part of the video.
phillymike77-- you're a heartless jerk! not believe him? he's in the hospital parking lot, once moats hands him ID, he should've been able to say good-bye to his DYING mother-in-law. He ran the red light at an open intersection with plenty of visability. he slightly stopped and was waved on by the other driver. cop fired-police department pays funeral as GORDY posted. this is a disgrace in every sense of the word.— 82tank- Phillymike, if the cop had stopped after the nurse came down and explained the situation, then maybe you'd have a point. You are right that the officer was just doing his job by pulling over a car that ran a red light, but for him to have taken the situation this far is both ridiculous and very sad.— mpenny
- hey Phillymike77. If he pulled into a 7/11 or a diner I'd see your point about waiting for the other side of the story. The only one I see is an ignorant punk "tough because of the badge" incompetent cop. At what point can one expect "COMMON SENSE" to kick in. Hospital pkg. lot, nurses explaining the situ, etc. The dope should be immediately fired for total embarrassing incompetence.— stoneman
- i hope he either gets fired or takes a bullet in his spine while at dunkin donuts....i hope his wife gets an incurable VD....from phony romo....gives it to her husband and he dies slowly from brain disease.....i hope his daughter dates a six foot 7 TE from grambling and they have 8 babies— Eagle fan since 1976
- The cop's behavior is absolutely sickening. Especially once the nurses came out and tried to plead with him, informing him of the urgency of the situation. And also the other officer who came to the scene asked him to let Moats go inside as well. The cop was COMPLETELY out of line, and I feel absolutely sick to my stomach that Moats and Moat's mother-in-law missed this once-in-a-lifetime moment that no stupid, trite apology from the Dallas Police Chief could ever give them back. Outrageous. I feel great sympathy for Ryan and his family.
- I can appreciate the police's position and at this point he was correct in his protocol. I think that Moats should have stopped his car at the earliest point of intervention and explained the situation and request an escort to the hospital. He could have provided his license as security and have verification done by the police as they continued together to hospital. I think that would have been a better approach. By the time of pursuit ended the police had no idea what was going on. It escalated on attitude that never reconciled with the verification by hospital authorities. After that the police was just being stupid.— aden
- I can appreciate the police's position and at this point he was correct in his protocol. I think that Moats should have stopped his car at the earliest point of intervention and explained the situation and request an escort to the hospital. He could have provided his license as security and have verification done by the police as they continued together to hospital. I think that would have been a better approach. By the time of pursuit ended the police had no idea what was going on. It escalated on attitude that never reconciled with the verification by hospital authorities. After that the police was just being stupid.— aden
- I can appreciate the police's position and at this point he was correct in his protocol. I think that Moats should have stopped his car at the earliest point of intervention and explained the situation and request an escort to the hospital. He could have provided his license as security and have verification done by the police as they continued together to hospital. I think that would have been a better approach. By the time of pursuit ended the police had no idea what was going on. It escalated on attitude that never reconciled with the verification by hospital authorities. After that the police was just being stupid.— aden
- I think this is a terrible situation and I feel bad for Ryan Moats and his family that they had to go through this. All I can think about though, is how the NFL would have handled this if the situation ended differently. What if Ryan went with the girls (into the hosptial) to see his dying mother-in-law. The police probably would have arrested him for "fleeing" (I've heard of people fleeing into a church, but never a hospital) and then he would have ended up in jail. Then, if the video wasn't posted, I'm sure Goddell would have continued to try and make an example of people who disobey the law, and Ryan Moats would have been suspended, fined, etc. I'm all in favor of Goodell punishing people who break the law, but in this case, why doesn't he use his legal background to help the players who are 'abused' by the law/police? Ryan Moats was screwed no matter what he did. He had to choose - miss his dying mother-in-law passing or go to jail. Of course, I'm still bent at the NFL laying off a lot of people and then finding excuses of why they HAD to book at a $600/night resort for the owners meeting. The last time I checked, when I book a hotel room, I can cancel as late as 24-48 hours in advance. They couldn't have changed hotels/conference rooms to a cheaper hotel (a few weeks in advance) and save at least 1-2 people's job? Pathetic..... We as fans need to take a stand and start holding the NFL accountable just like we do the banking institutions. (P.S. If you do the math and say that the NFL booked 100 rooms at the reported discounted rate of $400/night, that's $40,000 per night vs $150/night for another hotel. If the event goes 2-3 days, that could have saved 1-2 people's jobs!!!) Ultimately, I hope Ryan Moats finds peace for what happened during this terrible ordeal!!!!— mansbachh
- When a cop takes their oath,they are sworn to protect the public. How in the world do you pull your gun for a traffic violation. Kinda makes you wonder what he would do in a real crisis. Since this is on tape, the world hopefully will never know.— Ken B
- Having watched the video, I don't think either one was clearly right or wrong. They both could have handled this a lot better. Moats should have pulled over right away and explained the situation and gotten a police escort to the hospital. Instead, he continued driving for a couple of miles and the cop doesn't know at that point who's in the car, just that the person is fleeing the cop and usually people don't flee unless they are up to no good. So I can understand his initial take on the situation and especially when Moats spent 5 minutes antagonizing him. The cop ended up pulling a power trip but Moats gave him a major attitude and he put up with a lot more than most cops would before he tore Moats a new one. Sad story, but I think Moats brought a lot of this on himself with the way he handled the situation. He's not nearly as "innocent" in this as the article implies.— JimG
- Rip me all you want this is a prime example why I hate PIGS!!! Just because you have a badge doesn't make you GOD! Majority of losers who don't have a future or wasted their younger years by being morons in school and not learning anything become cops because its the only thing they are qualified for, that or McDonalds...As always the few ruin it for the majority.— foomycoomy
- It's unfortunate, but I understand the cop's actions. Every idiot they pull over has a sob story for committing whatever infraction they do. If the police spent time investigating every story each lawbreaker tells them, then no police work would get done.— mikerainey82
- He was speeding to a hospital thats common sense right there, if his mother was in the hosptal dying he would speed too..Ryan Moats better person than me, we woulda had that conversation at her bed, i would not have chatted with that cop for 13 min at all— rayne215
- Ken B: How does a cop pull a gun on a traffic violation? Four people jump out of the car at once! Once again, it's unfortunate, but understandable. As far as people yapping that a nurse verifified the story, since when did nurses become the go to guys when it comes to the truth being heard?— mikerainey82
Follow
Sheil on Twitter. And become
a fan of Moving the Chains on Facebook.
Download our NEW iPhone/Android app for even more Birds
coverage, including app-exclusive videos and analysis. Download it here.
