At Least Officer Barbrady Has a Heart

I know I've been away for awhile, but I had to bust out my workday shackles Hulk style to respond to the farce that is the above video.

Houston Texas running back Ryan Moates (the guy trying to see his dying mother-in-law) accepted an apology from Officer Robert Powell today, but I cannot imagine how he's feeling.

The guy runs a red light, slowly, emergency lights flashing--nobody is injured, Communists don't start chucking Molotov cocktails, the world doesn't implode-to see his dying relative, and instead has to deal with Robobastard drawing his gun like he's thwarting the Hamburglar's latest hungry raid as he requests proof of insurance.

Then, even after a nurse comes out to tell Powell that Moates' mother-in-law is in fact really dying, Powell responds with "Alright, I'm almost done." and later, after Moates isn't able to say a final goodbye, Powell defends himself by saying "all you had to do was stop" and "remember attitude" before STILL writing him a ticket (it has since been dismissed) for running a red light and finishing with a, My bad. Next time stop and let them know what is going on and they'll let you go, just like he did of course.

Thanks Officer Powell for your provocative "The More You Know" lesson. I'm sure Moates will remember your sage advice the next time he has to rush to a hospital in order to have a few precious moments with a loved one before he or she passes.

Some thoughts here:

1. There are good cops out there, although this incident reminds me of my own tale of dealing with a bad cop. Long story short, after a night in Savannah for St. Patty's day a couple years back we returned to our original meeting place about a mile or so from our hotel room, and I, after hours stuck downtown waiting for a ride and unable to go to the bathroom, sober mind you, took a South Georgia style pee in the woods only to be thrown in the back of a squad car handcuffed until my sobbing, inconsolable girlfriend and her friends could gather up $300 to get me out. The cop claimed the jails were full because of St. Patty's and that would be my penalty anyway, so the officers on duty were instructed that exchanging money at the scene was acceptable. In the end, he told me never to come back to whatever county it was like I was some sort of drug dealer pushing to 5 year olds. He gave us his business card with a case number and sheriff's office info, but you be the judge.

2. When will the bad ones figure out that their cruiser has a dashboard camera, and that every 10 year old skatepunk has a camera phone?

3. If Moates wasn't an NFL player would the public have any idea that this actually happened?

4. Somebody needs to find a way in the police officer application process to screen out the people who ripped the legs off of spiders as a kid and/or were the last picked in dodgeball as they picked out an atomic wedgie.

5. Heartfelt apology - Yeah right. I love how Powell all of a sudden has a change of heart after he is suspended WITH PAY.

I was listening to NPR tonight and they had one of Powell's supervisors on to discuss the incident. The host of the program asked him if he thought Powell's actions were race related. Hmm...ya think? I would hope that something this horrible, if it had to occur, would happen regardless of color, but I think we all know that isn't the case. Hopefully Obama would have at least made it to the elevator though.