Race, class and misconduct at a Dallas traffic stop

Having been focused on what's happening in Austin under the pink dome, I'd not found time to comment on the case of NFL player Ryan Moats , who was stopped by police while rushing his family to the hospital in Dallas to be with his wife's mother who they'd been told was near death. The whole exchange was caught on the officer's dashcam video and it's generous to say the officer comes off as a bully and a jerk, while Moats was the definition of class and poise, particularly under the circumstances. Moats' mother-in-law died while the officer detained them.

Unfortunately, this being Dallas, local media and activists feel compelled turn the issue into a racial conflict because the officer, Robert Powell, is white and Moats is black. James Ragland, a columnist for the Dallas News, offered up a column titled "Racial dynamics can't be ignored in Ryan Moats traffic stop" (March 27). I think he's wrong; I think the racial dynamics can be ignored and, in this instance, should be.

There's plenty to criticize about the Moats' traffic stop without bringing race into the argument.

From my perspective, as somebody who ran the ACLU of Texas' Police Accountability Project for six years, this is a story about straight up police misconduct - an officer exhibiting arrogance and a willingness to abuse his authority in deference to his own ego, perhaps emboldened by training he's received that teaches him to take control of a situation and demand absolute compliance at traffic stops backed up by threat of force.

The case also shows why the dashcams now installed in most Texas police cruisers doing traffic enforcement are a good thing and serving the purpose for which they were installed: Protecting the vast majority of good cops who're doing the right thing while creating a record when some bully with a badge steps over the line.

From the video record, I don't view what happened to Mr. Moats' family much differently than I do the poor folks in San Marcos last year whose dog died while they were detained on the way to the emergency vet. "It's a dog, okay," the cop said to the distraught couple as the animal lay dying in the back seat, "you can get another one."

That brand of callous disregard - the notion that an officer projecting authority is more important than common sense and respecting the humanity of the situation they're dealing with - lies at the root of many cases of police overreaction and misconduct. It's an attitude that's part of police culture and training, not some racial slight.

Notably, Moats' views were more constructive than Mr. Ragland's, recognizing that what happened to his family wasn't wrong because he's black, but because he's human and an American. He told the Dallas News, "I never really throw that [race] card. From my point of view, he [Powell] wasn't going to listen to reason at all. He didn't care what I was saying."

That dynamic of interaction with civilians is fairly typical in police misconduct cases, and it's something that's embedded in police training, policies, and culture, not just poor race relations. The couple in San Marcos last year whose dog died was white.

The Moats' experience is an unfortunate and important story, but IMO Ragland's racial angle is among the least important things about it.

At the end of the day, the fact that this even became a news story probably has more to do with class than race. As Digby noted, "The Dallas police department apologized, which is terrific and all, but one wonders if the person wasn't an NFL player if he'd even get that."