Friday, April 10, 2009
Consequences of police discretion.
Police officers have a lot of discretion when it comes to who to pull over, and who to cite. It is a great thing that they have this discretion because if they didn’t and had to go by the book and give everyone they pulled over a ticket, no one would get a break. It’s up to the officer to give a warning or to cite the person.
On the night of March 18th 2009 a Dallas police officer pulled over a car that ran a red light. It was Ryan Moats who plays for Houston Texans as a running back. He and his wife were in a hurry on their way to the hospital where Moats mother in law was dying. When he was pulled over he tried to explain the situation that was going on in the hospital, but the officer had no compassion and threatened that if he did not cooperate then he could be taken to jail for running a red light. The officer went even as far as to pull his gun out at the beginning of the stop. By the time the officer wrote the ticket 13 min had passed and his mother in law had already passed away. This is a type of situation where the officer should have made a different decision based on the circumstances. http://www.newser.com/article/d9764ag85/dallas-police-officer-on-leave-for-delaying-nfl-player-as-he-tried-to-visit-dying-relative.html
The department was apologetic to the incident. The officer had even come on the news to say his apologies about how he handled the situation. He admitted that he was scared for his job. Later he resigned. It is not clear that if he was forced to resign because it was better than being fired. Losing a job is a reality to police who show signs of making poor decisions out in the field. When an incident occurs we hear that the officer is placed on administrative leave until further investigation. If the officer is a fault the department will tell them that they should resign or they will be fired. This all depends on the situation whether it be an officer that shoots a suspect who is detained already to the incident explained above.
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ReplyDeleteThis news clip is extremely frustrating to watch. I think that the officers were out of line with how they handled the situation in more ways than one, and it is unfortunate that that they represent themselves as well as their department in this manner. This traffic stop could have been handled differently, even if they decided to cite Moats' for running the red light. Good blog, I have enjoyed following it.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't believe this video. I feel bad for both the cop, Ryan Moats and his family. I don't think the poor cop meant to react the way he did. When the family was trying to exit the vehicle they put him in a bad situation. In any normal situation his reacts might have been normal, but since they where at a hospital he should have cut Ryan Moats and his family some slack. It is what it is. It sucks either way.
ReplyDeleteI agree it was a frustrating video to watch. You feel for the officer and Ryan Moats. In the situation the officer should have handled it differently. Since he did what he did he had to pay the consequences. The outcome was negative for both of them.
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