Would you speed to the hospital if your mother or mother-in-law was dying? Yeah, well, so would most people. And Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats was no exception last week when he and his wife were notified that his mother-in-law had very little time left.

A Dallas police officer drew his gun during a traffic stop of Houston Texans running back Ryan Moats last week in which the officer kept Moats from going to the hospital room of his dying mother-in-law, the Dallas Morning News reported.

According to the report, the officer, identified as Robert Powell, stopped the vehicle being driven by Moats in the hospital parking lot for going through a red light.

Powell later told his superiors that he drew his gun but did not point it at anyone, according to the Morning News.

Moats’s wife and another relative ignored Powell’s command to stop and went inside the hospital, and Moats’s wife reportedly was by her mother’s bedside when she died.

Ryan Moats and another man remained outside while Powell lectured Moats, wrote a ticket and threatened to arrest him even after being told that by Moats that his mother-in-law was near death inside the hospital. After a delay of about 13 minutes, according to the Morning News, Powell allowed Moats to go inside the hospital, that after hospital staff members and another police officer interceded. Moats’s mother-in-law, Jonetta Collinsworth, already had died by the time Moats arrived at her room, according to the report…

Moats: “You really want to go through this right now? My mother-in-law is dying. Right now!… I got seconds before she’s dying, man!”

Powell: “If my mom was dying, I’d probably be a little upset, too, but when I saw flashing red and blue [lights], I’d stop.”

Moats: “If you’re going to give me a ticket, just give me a ticket…. All I’m asking you is just hurry up.”

Powell: “… I could charge you with fleeing right now. Understand what I could do…. I could make your life very difficult.”

I can understand pulling over someone for speeding. But when that person notifies you that his mom is dying, and a nurse and two security officers confirm the story and ask for the cop to let him see her, it’s time to act like a human being. Instead, the officer allegedly (and there’s video tape apparently showing it) wrote Moats a ticket, lectured him for 13 minutes, and threatened to arrest him. And by then it was too late for Moats to see his mother-in-law. By the looks of that last bit in the blockquote, the officer seemed to be on a power trip.

Dallas police department officials have issued an apology and have reassigned Powell to dispatch pending an investigation, according to the Morning News.

Wow, an apology. I’m sure that makes up for not being able to see an obviously beloved family member before she died. The cop should be fired.