There is documented proof of police abuse of power.
There is a law, but it doesn't apply to Texas; ever.
But there is a History at the Dallas Police of Racial Discirmination.
Dallas Police Officer: ” …You Dont Speak English… You Go To Jail!”|THE CUBAN REVOLUTION
Just when I was starting to feel some sympathy for Robert Powell, the flood
gates open. I have previously written about this October 21, 2006 entry on
his Xanga Blog:
“You drink, You drive, You rear end another car, You don’t speak english, You
smell like alcohol, You cant stand up straight, You cant walk a straight line,
You go to jail!!!”
powellrob2002's Xanga Site
While most of these statements when taken together seem
reasonable statements of law enforcement procedures, taken as a whole with
the Ryan Moats incident, and now the Maritza Thomas incident, the “You
don’t speak English” go to jail!!! mandate from officer Powell should cause
concern as to his ability to function effectively as a Dallas Police officer.
Lapses of judgment even terrible ones happen to the best of people.
Hopefully they can be learned from and never repeated. Immaturity of action
can change with teaching, supervision and experience. Ethnic and racial
intolerance is learned however. It tends to stick around and often manifests
itself under stress. A statement such as he made in a city in which has a
relatively large contingent of non-English speaking Hispanic residents** has
to be looked at as more than “youthful bad taste”.
Maritza Thomas is Hispanic. She is the wife of NFL linebacker Zach Thomas.
She has come forward to allege mistreatment at the hands of officer Powell.
On July 27, 2008, Maritza Thomas was pulled over by Powell for an illegal U-
turn. She was issued five tickets by Powell. Thomas was handcuffed, placed
in the back of a police cruiser, spent about three hours in the Dallas County
Jail and was threatened with the possibility of spending the night behind
bars. Four of the five charges were subsequently dropped. The charges
were failure to show proof of insurance, running a red light, having an
improper address on a driver’s license and not having a registration sticker on
the windshield. She accepted deferred adjudication for the illegal U-turn
charge. Her attorney, Brody Shanklin stated:
“Unless extraordinary circumstances exist, no person should be arrested for a
Class C citation. In this case, it was an example of Officer Powell being
overzealous and exerting his authority in a manner that he never should have.”
Her mother, Teresa Lozano, speaks little English, was forced to ride with the
tow truck when the car was impounded. She later posted bail for her daughter’s release.
“My mom was begging for him to let her go to the apartment that was five
minutes away to get the paperwork,” Maritza Thomas said. “He unbuckled his
holster, and she got scared.”
Officers do have the authority to make an arrest for Class C misdemeanor
tickets. Many officer have come to the defense of officer Powell in the
Thomas case.
“If there are so many violations that it could be viewed that it’s an egregious
situation, that person can be arrested,” said Assistant Chief Floyd Simpson,
who oversees the department’s seven patrol divisions”
“It’s a judgment thing on the cops at that moment,” Simpson said. “The core
of what we do is just discretion, and it needs
While no dashcam is available there , there is no evidence that Mrs. Thomas
or her mother exhibited any provocation or disrespect unless being anxious
and emotional at the prospect of going to jail is in itself disrespectful. Mrs.
Thomas has NOT alleged that race played any part in her arrest.
Is this incident in itself definitive as to Mr. Powell’s attitudes towards
minorities? Of course not. Should this incident combined with the Moats
incident and his blog postings be cause for concern as to his beliefs in this
area warranting further investigation before a decision is made as to his
fitness to continue as a Dallas Police officer? It would be irresponsible on the
part of the Dallas Police Department not to look into it.