Video
11 News video
March 31, 2009
DALLAS -- The Dallas police officer who has received national criticism for as his mother-in-law was dying said Monday that he wishes he had handled the situation differently.
Officer Robert Powell, who publicly apologized last week for adding to the family's grief, explained what he wishes he had done instead.
"If I were in that situation again, I would take them inside and let them be with their mother, which is where they needed to be," Powell told KTVT (Channel 11).
NFL running back Ryan Moats, 26, told police that he rolled through a red light with his hazard lights on March 17 as he was rushing his family to a Plano hospital to visit his dying mother-in-law. Powell pulled over the Moatses' SUV outside the emergency room. He kept Moats and another relative there for 13 minutes as he wrote a traffic ticket.
Powell said he wasn't sure what was happening when the Moats family jumped out of the car to rush inside the hospital.
"I have never had a traffic stop like this," Powell said. "Everything at that point is training kicking in. I don't know what they're doing. I don't know what's going on."
Powell told KTVT that he doesn't know why he didn't let Moats and his family proceed inside the hospital after they made it clear that they were visiting a dying relative. Two of the Moats relatives ran into the hospital despite Powell's commands.
"I don't know why I didn't," he said. "I should have."
The Moats family has said Powell pointed his gun at Tamishia Moats, Ryan Moats' wife. Powell said he doesn't recall that.
"Once I found out there was no threat, I did reholster my weapon immediately," he said.
He said the outrage the incident sparked has been difficult for him and his wife, who have two young children.
"To say that I'm scared of being fired - I would say it's an understatement," he said. "I'm terrified."
Moats, a graduate of Bishop Lynch High School, lives in Frisco. He plays for the Houston Texans.
Moats, his wife and two other family members were headed to Baylor Regional Medical Center at Plano when Powell pulled them over.
Moats stopped at a red light near the hospital, hazard lights flashing, and then drove through it after the motorist with the right-of-way signaled for him to go ahead, Moats told police.
"I got there as safely as I could," he said in a television interview.
Powell, watching traffic from a hidden spot, turned on his lights and sirens, caught up with Moats' vehicle and followed it into a hospital parking lot.
There, the police officer - who has since been placed on leave - detained Moats, threatening and berating him.
Moats' mother-in-law died before he could get in to see her.
Moats appeared on ABC-TV's Good Morning America on Monday morning.
"I was afraid for ... [my wife] because he was pointing a gun at her," Ryan Moats said.
When Powell pulled him over, "I didn't realize what was going on at the time," Moats said. "Once I got out, I realized it was pretty serious.
"I understand about the red light, but I thought he'd have some kind of sympathy."
Tamishia Moats said the family has not heard from Powell personally.
"It would be comforting to get an apology from him," she said. "We definitely would accept his apology."
