Dallas Officer Robert Powell Apologizes

His actions pilloried on national television and disowned by his commanders, Dallas police Officer Robert Powell came forward Friday afternoon to say he was sorry for detaining a family rushing to the hospital to visit a dying loved one.

Powell, 25, said he had tried to contact NFL player Ryan Moats and his family to apologize directly but so far had not reached them.

"I wish to publicly and sincerely apologize to the Moats family, my colleagues in the Dallas Police Department, and to all those who have been rightfully angered by my actions," he said in a written statement issued by his attorney.

The attorney, Bob Gorsky, works with the Dallas Police Association. He said that despite news reports to the contrary, the officer is remorseful.

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

The video, recorded by his in-car camera, shows him berating Moats, threatening him with arrest and holding him for 13 minutes over a traffic violation while his mother-in-law died at Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano.

In his apology, Powell said he regretted adding to the family's grief in an already difficult time.

"After stopping Mr. Moats' vehicle, I showed poor judgment and insensitivity to Mr. Moats and his family by my words and actions," the statement said.

Gorsky released little information about his client, saying only that he came to the department straight out of college in January 2006.

Powell, from the Amarillo area, was married not long ago and the couple has an infant, said an officer who knows him but declined to be identified.

"He's semi-quiet," the officer said. "He's not one you'd ever think would ever embarrass the department in any way. I've never heard him raise his voice."

Shortly after being hired, Powell was assigned to the city's north-central patrol station. During his short tenure, he has received some minor discipline, including a one-day suspension for violating sick-time policy.

"There is a complaint involving use of force, but his record's relatively clean," Police Chief David Kunkle said Thursday during an apologetic news conference. "That complaint was not sustained."


'Trying to do his job'

The chief called Powell's actions "inappropriate," "troublesome," "embarrassing" and "extraordinarily disappointing."

But one fellow officer spoke up for Powell on Friday.

"Right now he feels the world is against him," said Detective Ron Pinkston, secretary-treasurer of the Dallas Police Association. "He was trying to do his job out there."

Pinkston said that he sympathized with Powell and that it's been rough on the three-year officer, under the weight of nationwide derision.

He said that he isn't sure Powell should be disciplined and that he certainly shouldn't be fired. He stressed that Powell is still essentially a rookie.

"I think an older officer who'd been out there could de-escalate quicker than a younger officer," he said. "When any officer stops somebody on a traffic stop, there's a high level of anxiety for the unknown."

The situation Powell faced isn't something that figures into academy curriculum, said Lt. Vernon Hale, commander of the Dallas police academy.

"I don't think it's a situation that anybody's ever anticipated," he said, "or it wouldn't be national news."

Different officers will respond differently to the same situation, Hale said.

"You have a traffic stop, someone not stopping and people jumping out of the vehicle," the lieutenant said. "However, at some point, the light should come on is my thinking."


Outrage continues

The Moats family declined to speak about the episode Friday. But a man who witnessed it said he found Powell's apology suspect.

"An apology was very much needed after the fact, but the way he conducted himself, the way he enforced his side of the law, there wasn't no mistake about it," said Jason Brown, 23, who was at the hospital on the night of March 17 and can be seen in the video.

Others outraged by the incident continue to register their displeasure. A secretary at Dallas police headquarters said Friday that irate callers were still inundating the phone lines.

And even officials of a neighboring police department took steps to distance themselves from the incident.

"The Plano Police Department requests the media's assistance in clarifying the fact that this is a Dallas Police Department incident," said a news release. Plano police said e-mails and phone calls of complaints have rained on them from across the country.

The red light Moats ran is just inside the Dallas city limits and just down the street from the Plano hospital where Moats was pulled over.

"Thus, all comments regarding this incident should be directed to the Dallas Police Department," the news release pointed out.

Even others sharing Powell's name found themselves the unfortunate targets of ridicule.

"I am not the cop who pulled over Ryan Moats in Dallas ... so please stop sending me msgs about how much you hate me," said one Robert Powell on his Facebook page. "I'M NOT HIM!"


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Other Information: http://police-brutality-blog.blogspot.com/2009/03/dallas-police-officer-should-be-fired.html