Robert Powell And Ryan Moats

I just saw the dash cam video.  Officer Robert Powell chased a black family to a local hospital after he witnessed their vehicle running a red light with the hazard lights on.  The black people get out of the car.  The black woman is distressed.  She is in tears.  The police officer draws his gun and tells everyone to stay put.  The woman tells the police officer that her mother is about to pass away.  The officer doesn’t care.  After trying to explain the situation and seeing that she was getting nowhere with the law enforcer, she holds up her hands, tells the cop that she’s going into the hospital,  and goes into the emergency room.

The black man remains outside.  The police officer wants to see his documentation of insurance.  The black man is trying to tell the officer his mother in law is dying.  The cop assures the man he can go after he gets the proper documentation.  The man is frantic and starts looking for it.  The police officer tells the man that he either finds his documentation or the vehicle will be towed away.  The black man asks for understanding.  The police officer tells the man to shut up and submit with a threat of violence or harassment.  A nurse comes outside to explain to the cop that they only have minutes before the man’s mother in law passes away.  The cop didn’t care.  Another cop shows up to help alleviate the situation.  The other police officer is looking at the situation through unbiased eyes.  He tries to tell the original police officer that he should let the man go inside the hospital.  The original police officer says he’s almost done.  The black man gets a ticket for running the red light.  The black man goes inside the hospital just in time to hear that his mother in law passed away while he was being harassed by the uncaring police officer.

People are shocked to witness so much callousness to the black family by a police officer.  More humane treatment is given to feral cats and other homeless animals.  A statement from Dallas police said that police officers have wide discretion to respond to a situation.  The police officer had the option to drop the entire issue.  He could’ve waited while the black family said goodbye to their loved one and then issued the ticket.  He could’ve issued the ticket and let the family go about their business of saying goodbye.  But this dick weed’s panties were so tightly wadded that he felt he had to get out of the police car with his weapon in order to lay down the law.  Just what exactly did he think people were doing speeding to the hospital in the middle of the night and getting out of a car so emotionally distraught?  It never crossed the man’s mind that something out of the ordinary may be happening.  Instead of being helpful and serving the community, the police officer made the choice to be the biggest racist prick he could be.  Knowing the situation in detail I would be surprised if a traffic judge didn’t throw the case out.

How do we know he was being racist?  We don’t exactly know for sure.  The man never made a statement that he hates black people or that he would be willing to shoot a black family as they tried to say goodbye to a family member on their death bed.  But can anyone recall the last time we heard about a white family being chased into a hospital parking lot, got out of their car distressed, and is accosted by a police officer with a gun drawn?  This might be one of those rare, first time ever cases.  But why is it that when it’s the first time happening it happens to a black family?

Actually, this isn’t the first time something like this happened.  Black people are often the victim of overzealous law enforcers.  The only reason the egregiousness of this situation is coming to the light is because the black man involved was Houston Texans football player Ryan Moats.  Enough people care about Mr. Moats to make sure this police officer pays for following standard black suspect operating procedure and using his position of authority to wreak havoc.  Mr. Moats has the resources or has enough friends in high places to eek out some retribution for his family’s ordeal.  Officer Powell has been fired.  However, even in this economic environment I’m sure he won’t remain unemployed for long.  People who abuse black people often find support from the dominant community and wind up with even better career paths.  Just ask Don Imus or Duane “Dog” Chapman.

But had that been me, a black nobody with few friends and none of them in high places, we would have heard a totally different story.  Who am I kidding?  You wouldn’t hear any story because it would have never made the news.  All we would have heard is that a black man on his way to hospital ran a stop light and while he was getting his ticket his loved way passed away.  More than likely the outpouring of sympathy for Mr. Moats would be replaced with a cavalier attitude of Mr. Peacemaker should have obeyed traffic laws if he didn’t want trouble.  People would have defended Mr. Powell and his job would have never been in jeopardy.  The man was just another nigger that needed a reminder of his place in this world.

No one should flaunt traffic laws.  But if the police officer was dead set on issuing a traffic citation, it could have and should have been done quickly considering the extenuating circumstances.  But too often we dismiss the circumstances when everyday black people are the subject and assumptions are made.  If we actually took justice for black people seriously, if we took equal protection under the law seriously, if we actually took consideration for all people seriously, no police officer would have the audacity to be so nonchalant with the threat of violence.  How many more times does this kind of thing need to happen before we realize there is a problem of disparity with our police culture?