1. DPD officer Robert Powell has been reassigned to dispatch, and he’ll probably be lucky to stay there. Why? On March 17, he pulled over Ryan Moats outside Baylor Regional Medical Center. Moats, a Bishop Lynch grad and running back for the Houston Texans, was hurrying to see his dying mother-in-law. Though hospital staff and security backed up Moats’ story, Powell spent 13 minutes writing a ticket — and saying things like “I can screw you over,” all of which was caught on his dashboard camera — during which time Jonetta Collinsworth passed away. This will not end well for Powell.
2. My favorite part of this look at the District 2 council race, in which challenger Billy MacLeod credits his alcohol-fueled criminal past for inspiring him to get into politics, is this section:
[Pauline] Medrano said she is running on her own record and doesn’t plan to make MacLeod’s criminal record a campaign issue.
But her record, Medrano noted, is one of fighting crime, not committing it.
In other words: “I don’t really want to talk about it, but since you asked…”
3. And finally, in case you missed it, the Cowboys will join the bandwagon and install the Wildcat offense, Coach Jerry Jones says.
49 comments
#1 – Obviously a graduate of the S Bell School of Professional Conduct.
I would say Mr. Powell should be relegated to doing security at Luby’s but their entire customer service strategy is based on sympathy for those near death.
I have a few thoughts on No. 1 this morning over at my place.
I can’t believe the DMN printed this propagandist crap. There are so many stories of good cops in the Dallas Police Department, but do we ever hear about them? No.
I pretty much agree with Trey’s thoughts, but is anyone else a little frightened (but not surprised) that he knows and uses the the German word for storm troopers?
And RayRay, was your comment supposed to be ironic, or read straight? You really don’t understand why this would be a story? “Hey,uh, let’s kill the story about the policeman delaying the man while his mother-in-law died, and being a d*ck about it. Let’s go with the one about the policeman who worked his shift without incident, was respectful to everyone he stopped, and helped an old lady across the street.”
Zsc, I like your move to make FB a click-through portal to other blogs (that’s why I supported you for mayor, you’re progressive!).
Does it cost something, or can anyone do it for free? There was so much interesting stuff once I went to Trey’s blog and then Bethany’s. And thanks to Wick for being so generous too.
I saw the video of the traffic stop involving Ryan Moats. Heartbreaking. Robert Powell, you are an embarrassment to the badge. Your behavior was deplorable. You thought you had a big score there, didn’t you? You were barking commands as if you thought you were Ryan Moat’s master. I hope you spend the rest of your days shoveling out the stalls for the police horses.
Ooops, my bad Zac, I misspelled your name.
RayRay..doing something good is called doing their job, that’s why it’s not in the newspaper.
Like when you are courteous in the drive-through, you probably don’t get recognized. BUT that time you peed in the fry grease it was all over the news.
Same thing here.
@mm: I guess I didn’t lay the sarcasm on thick enough.
I tried to make the point that the great bloggers at FrontBurner love the DMN whenever they do fine reporting on a story that gets the community talking but then the next day these same bloggers (or, more frequently, their loyal followers) essentially say that the DMN is worthless.
…And then there are those days where Tim Rogers will say a baseless comment such as “you people aren’t good at your jobs.” (Yes, I’m still clinging to that one even though it was a while ago now.)
@matt: Exactly. As I told mm, that was sort of my point, however convoluted it was…
So along that same logic, aren’t students and teachers in DISD merely doing their jobs by being good students and teachers?
So why must FrontBurner and others criticize the DMN for only covering the negative stories about DISD? Don’t stories about failing schools need to be “all over the news”?
Cheerios, anyone?
I’m really looking forward to the next FB Digital Short, “Really RayRay!?! with Seth and Amy”, starring Zac as Seth Myers and Spider Monkey as Amy Poehler
@ Troll Doll: You are a true asset to this blog, I’m serious. I just think it’s so refreshing to read your reactions to my comments on an almost-daily basis. They’re always tasteful but somehow never get old. A hat tip to you!
It’s always that 99% of cops who make the other 1% look bad.
And I would add, RayRay, that I’m sick and tired of reading about all these domestic murders that seem to be going on lately. Just for once, couldn’t you read about a couple getting a babysitter and catching dinner and movie? They won’t report it because they’re on a fishing mission!
BTW, Trey, kidos to you for this line:
How did we get stuck with these underachieving, knuckle-dragging SA wannabes who think their state-issued costumes give them the right to humiliate free men and women when they don’t show the subservience proper to a slave?
Wished I’d-a said it.
Encounters with DPD are always unpredictable, frequently ok, but sometimes scary and sometimes creepy. I note that a Plano PD officer also attempted to intercede on Moats behalf, but the jack-ass DPD officer would have none of it.
kudos. Or ‘kidos, if you’re a dog person.
Powell = nasty human being.
Yes, Daniel. You’re right on.
Where are the stories about the high school junior who is abstaining from drugs, alcohol and sex? Or how about a feature on the senior who got a driver’s license and a hand-me-down Ford Focus last weekend? Or what about that nice young man at the mall who took my return even though it was one day past the return window?
@MM
“I pretty much agree with Trey’s thoughts, but is anyone else a little frightened (but not surprised) that he knows and uses the the German word for storm troopers?”
Knowledge is scary?
Act of Basic Courtesy Occurs on North Texas Roadway
Todd Turnbull: Waiter Candidly Steers Diners Away From Below-Par Menu Items
Finding Himself Undercharged, Consumer Chooses Honesty
Adie Emerson: Lower Greenville Resident Enjoys Pubs, Bars
Not so much the knowledge, but the enthusiastic use.
So the enthusiastic use of knowledge is scary?
I should use my knowledge lackadaisically?
Or is there something unspoken here that amounts to more than a few unkind words as regards to my character?
I’m not getting you.
Daniel, you just presented four stellar examples of why newspaper journalism still matters, and I salute you. [something about getting out of my chair and applauding]
Let’s let real journalists deal with that kind of news and leave the stories that basically write themselves to the bloggers. When people want stories about murders, corruption, mismanagement of public funds, natural disasters, etc., they turn to a medium that’s here to stay: blogs.
Perhaps you’d like this book?
http://www.amazon.com/Nothing-Happens-Ever-Joan-Fountain/dp/1882723147
@Trey
It’s just that your writing style is a little over the top. OK, way over the top. (I mean, “jack-booted thug” is SO Wayne LaPierre, circa 2000.)
It’s to the point that even when I 100% AGREE with you, as in this case, it’s grating to read. To me.
So yes, it would please me if you’d use your knowledge a little more lackadaisically. Yeah, yeah, I know, if I don’t want to read it, don’t click on it.
Fair point, mm.
I know that it was painting with an awfully broad brush, but a well-respected Dallas criminal defense attorney once opined to me that many of the cops that he dealt with on a day-to-day basis seemed to be spending most of their professional lives coping with the emotional repercussions of being cut from the JV football team. I blanched at the thought, but this guy certainly reinforces that attorney’s observation.
Joy! The flower is returned to its vase on our dining table, none the wilted for the nature of its absence. So where’s the hot sauce?
i concur with the lawyer that opined to Wes
one of my bestest friends back home in philly is a great great great cop, a homicide detective at that, and he was a star athlete in HS both in football and baseball, even played a little D1 baseball
another friend back home that’s also a cop and kind of a dick with (or without) a badge was cut from the JV football squad
So casually she enters the room, after “just going to the corner for a newspaper” all those months ago …
Yeah, we tease her a lot, ’cause she’s always high on pot. Welcome back!
Wow … just when I thought my FB NCAA Bracket Team, affectionately known as “Bring Back the Bethanies,” was an epic fail …
@ Wes Mantooth
I don’t mean to bust your bubble on your criminal defense attorney friend, but his job is to make police officers look bad on the stand so his client will get off. And most of the police officers I know are well educated and just want to make the world a little better off.
I hope Frontburner continues to follow this story and lets us know what happens to Powell. Unfortunately I bet as time passes this officer will be back on the streets with nothing more than a hand slap.
@ the other white meat
Wow somebody must have a bad time with the police in the past!
I have to say it’s been fun reading this thread and seeing RayRay eviscerate the usual sycophants here and their laughable attempts to return volley.
Maybe Eric was right and RayRay’s comments just aren’t thought provoking enough, in which case, Eric should put up another of his profound “do i look fat and and/or gay” posts. Maybe the regulars will have more luck with that.
“Wow somebody must have a bad time with the police in the past!”
Given some of the more prominent stories in Dallas in the last few years, that would be a safe bet. IJS.
#1 has now getting national play. Check out http://www.cnn.com
Latest News
Fargo in ‘uncharted territory’ with swollen river
Army vet billed $3,000 for war wounds
Storms hit in the dark, 82 homes damaged
WFAA: Cop delays son racing to see dying mom
Thanks, thanks for the laugh.
Look, I obviously enjoy this blog and its loyalists enough to come back every day and add one more number to their counter of daily page views.
But there’s so much arrogance and frivolity from the bloggers here that seems to clash with the well-meaning but largely ineffective attempts at being watchdogs of journalism and politics.
FrontBurner makes light of the fact that the DMN has too many blogs, and it probably does. But when you choose to instead make one catch-all blog for everything in Dallas, which D magazine has done here, you run into image problems. A link to a video of a bird dancing appears next to commentary on serious issues, for example.
To me, it’s hard to take seriously a place that tries to blend legitimate commentary on Dallas issues with posts like “do I look fat and/or gay.”
Journalists are told to be “chefs with many knives, none too sharp.” FrontBurner fits that mold. A lot of good stuff here, but nothing great.
You see, getting your in-depth perspective of Dallas from FrontBurner would be like buying a flat-screen TV at the grocery store. It’s convenient, because you’re there anyway, but in the back of your mind you know you’d get better service at a specialty store.
@Da POPO – I haven’t personally had any experiences with the law other than when I’ve bailed my exhusband out of jail for drunk and disorderly charges. I have a dear friend who is a cop and generally have respect for authority figures. But Robert Powell had such a boner for this guy who, you can see, is clearly distressed because his wife’s mother is dying. Powell wanted to be a hero and bust a guy for speeding. To a hospital. To tell his mother-in-law goodbye. Or maybe even to say “thanks for being a wonderful grandmother to my kids” or “you raised a good woman and I’m proud to have her as my wife.” Robert Powell denied Ryan Moats the chance to say goodbye and Ryan will never get that back.
@Da POPO: “I don’t mean to bust your bubble on your criminal defense attorney friend, but his job is to make police officers look bad on the stand so his client will get off. And most of the police officers I know are well educated and just want to make the world a little better off.”
You’re right, but ever since Duke lacrosse, I’ve held the view that in any particular criminal case (even a traffic stop) police and prosecutors don’t deserve our trust or the benefit of the doubt until they prove otherwise.
Rick Sanchez is on CNN talking about this story – it will be his lead story at 2pm today.
Excuse my mental density…
Per Google Maps, Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano is just NE of the Bush Turnpike and Preston Road.
Per the DMN article, Moats “exited the Dallas North Tollway, just down the street from the hospital.”
Assuming (I know) they exited at Plano Pkwy and turned east toward Preston, why was a DPD officer involved in the first place? Doesn’t Dallas jurisdiction start south of Plano Pkwy? Someone please tell me what I am missing.
Wow somebody must have a bad time with the police in the past! I can’t remember the fancy, probably Latin term for an argument that merely defines a term. And it’s driving me crazy, because I’m a pedantic ass.
But really, DaPOPO, what do you think? That people just have a swell old time with the police? Two nights ago, I was walking to the store to get dog food and a cop wrote me a ticket for walking by the curbside (on the road, technically, I guess) rather than on the characteristically obstacle-course-like sidewalk.
I guess I didn’t show sufficient fearful respect when dealing with this “man” who was showing the courage, after all, to risk his life; I certainly didn’t smart off, I’m no fool or hothead.
This guy was about 5′7″, 140, .45. As I left, he told me if he saw me around the neighborhood again tonight (my own neighborhood), it was straight to jail with me. For what? PI. But officer, I’m not drunk. You don’t have to be drunk for me to take you to the tank for PI.
Yeah, these are some lovely fellas. Real secure in their manhood, these cops. However would Dallas keep its crime rate so low without their neverending courage.
Kyle,
I think that answer may come out when they finish the investigation into the alleged pursuit. Powell apparently told the Plano officer there was one, and made it sound a tad more intense than it was, if I’m understanding Kunkle’s press conference today.
@Daniel
Are those newspaper headlines? ‘Cause that’s not AP style.
And is the word you’re looking for ‘tautology’?
Kyle, FWIW, Dallas city limits do go way north along the tollway, into Collin County.
According to this map, it goes almost to Preston and Plano Parkway.
http://maps.dallascityhall.com/index.asp?ExtentLeft=2461304.91152017&ExtentRight=2530838.32810191&ExtentTop=7051494.94313142&ExtentBottom=6974449.60619875&idCmd=&x1=187&x2=&y1=1&y2=&tool=&click.x=187&click.y=1&Requests=on&selectpt.x=&selectpt.y=&selectpt.stat=&mo=1&Address=&Zip=&Cmd=ZoomIn&msize=small&N.x=182&N.y=5
But since Moats was coming down from the north, still doesn’t make sense to me how Powell was involved.
mm @ March 26th, 2009 at 8:53 pm
“Kyle, FWIW, Dallas city limits do go way north along the tollway, into Collin County.
According to this map, it goes almost to Preston and Plano Parkway.
http://maps.dallascityhall.com…..&N.y=5
But since Moats was coming down from the north, still doesn’t make sense to me how Powell was involved.”
How did Powell get involved?
He saw a big, tricked out SUV driven by a black man… and he thought “I think I will show him his place”.
My current hubby’s Uncle was a cop in Dallas for many, many years…. and I have never seen a more racist, bigoted jerk… and he was an “old school” cop from the 60s, and beyond.
There are some great, well mannered, and decent individuals on the Dallas Police Force… I met and got to know, and work with many of them when I was an activist, and politician in Dallas,,, but I also met some real jerks along the way… both on the DPD, and unfortunately… some of their castoffs that ended up on the DART Police.
If I was Daniel… I would contact the Substation in his area, and talk to the Supervisor of the cop that ticketed him. His threats were over the top, and showed what a petty jackass the cop was. I would then photograph the sidewalks which were too dangerous to try and navigate… and fight the ticket in Court.
One weekday morning, about six years ago, when I walked my dog in the Lower Greenville area, I had a cop stop me… claiming that there had been a complaint about a homeless woman begging for money at the 7/11… which was 2 blocks away.
Now admittedly, I was not dressed for success at the time I was stopped… but for him to claim that since I was the ONLY woman he found on the streets at that time of the morning… ‘I MUST be the guilty party’, showed a real lack of effort on his part.
He threatened me with a ticket… and I threatened him with calls to the Police Chief… who I knew quite well at the time… as well as calls to several Assistant Police Chiefs… whose phone numbers I still had on speed dial.
I then told him the words that scared him the most: “I am the ONLY woman that former mayor Jack Evans ever called ‘b*tch’ in print… and that will be the nicest word you will think of in reference to me if I contact every Media outlet in this town… as I am a former TV and Radio Talk Show host… and there a LOT of reporters who owe me a favor”.
He drove off after that exchange, because nothing shuts up a jackass like the fear of media disclosure!
And I never walked the dog in the neighborhood again without a full face of makeup, or my hair done just right.