Maritza Thomas, Zach Thomas’ wife, was arrested by Robert Powell
By Therese Lisieux on March 29th, 2009Maritza Thomas, Zach Thomas’ wife, had an encounter with Dallas police officer Robert Powell. Zach Thomas used to play for Dallas Cowboys, where he was a linebacker. Thomas wanted to share her story about Officer Powell. Powell was the same officer that questioned and checked Ryan Moats for 13 minutes while his mother-in-law was dying.
In July 2008, Officer Powell stopped Maritza Thomas for making an illegal U-turn. Mrs Thomas was issued 5 tickets for various offences. Four tickets were later dropped. Mrs Thomas was handcuffed and thrown into jail. Her lawyer, Brody Shanklin, claimed that Maritza Thomas never should have been arrested for Class C citation.
Powell’s lawyer, Bob Gorsky, claimed the arrest was made because of the multiple traffic charges.
Officer Powell was placed on administrative leave since Ryan Moats’ incident. Dallas police would be investigating the complaints filed against Powell (if any).
Updated on April 1.
Robert Powell has resigned. Powell released statements of apology to everyone concerned in the incident. Read the details here.
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March 30th, 2009 at 10:31 am
My sister emailed this to me, she is a doctoral student studying psychology, and this incident was raised in her class which focuses on: “The psychology of racism; signs and symptoms.” I think this pretty much fits the description head on – the power trip, the lack of sympathy, inability to exercise common sense and especially Powell’s current inability to accept responsibility or to remotely learn from his mistakes from this incident.
AS A WHITE American, such displays of rampant and racist behavior is a shear embarrassment. What’s more, as a 3rd GENERATION POLICE OFFICER, it is incumbent upon us to reflect the best of what being a policeman has to offer. Admittedly there have been and continues to be many injustices wielded at blacks, just because of the color of their skin. It is up to us as GOOD COPS to stand in the gap and shed the light. We are not alone; we must weed the bad cops out. We simply cannot afford to have these types of incidents of blatant unchecked racism. PERIOD.
DOES POWELL’S BEHAVIOR DICTATE THAT HE SHOULD NO LONGER BE AN OFFICER? I say, DEFFINITELY, especially since he shows no remorse after the fact. His cold and obstinate position makes him ineligible and incorrigible, two factors which should exclude him from ever being allowed to possess a badge. I think the JURY is out and it is pretty clear. It doesn’t take rocket science or a p.H.D. in psychology to figure it out. And POWELL certainly SHOULD NOT, by any means, still BE ON PAID leave! That only adds insult to injury. Kunkle already acknowledged his blatant disrespect for the position of the law and the reaction of his superiors…
CALL IT A DAY AND FIRE POWELL! ACION SPEAKS LOUDER THAN WORDS, and this is the clearer sign from the Texas Police Dept of their disapproval of how Powell handled himself than any speech or words of apology. It’s that simple. All who agree say “Aye”…