Police State

A Dallas police officer drew his gun during a traffic stop of Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats last week in which the officer kept Moats from going to the hospital room of his dying mother-in-law, the Dallas Morning News reported. According to the report, the officer, identified as Robert Powell, stopped the vehicle being driven by Moats in the hospital parking lot for going through a red light. Powell later told his superiors that he drew his gun but did not point it at anyone, according to the Morning News. Moats's wife and another relative ignored Powell's command to stop and went inside the hospital, and Moats's wife reportedly was by her mother's bedside when she died. Ryan Moats and another man remained outside while Powell lectured Moats, wrote a ticket and threatened to arrest him even after being told that by Moats that his mother-in-law was near death inside the hospital. After a delay of about 13 minutes, according to the Morning News, Powell allowed Moats to go inside the hospital, that after hospital staff members and another police officer interceded. Moats's mother-in-law, Jonetta Collinsworth, already had died by the time Moats arrived at her room, according to the report. Dallas police department officials have issued an apology and have reassigned Powell to dispatch pending an investigation, according to the Morning News.