"Well, first of all I accept his apology, and I hope it's sincere -- a sincere apology," Moats said on ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday. "I've kind of left it up to my wife because I love Jo, my mother-in-law. ... She was just like my mom.
"And so I wanted to leave that up to [Tamishia] if she wanted to hear that from him."
Tamishia Moats walked away from the scene of the March 18 incident to go into the hospital, even as the officer had his gun drawn. She said there was nothing officer Robert Powell could have done to persuade her to stay.
Video: NFL player pulled over
On the Web site of the Dallas Morning News, video from a police dashboard camera shows a Dallas police officer stopping Texans running back Ryan Moats in front of the hospital where his mother-in-law lay dying of cancer. Watch
"I was thinking through my mind, 'I'm going to go into this hospital, I will be by my mom's side no matter what,' " she said on the ABC morning show.
Moats said she would appreciate a personal apology from Powell.
"When you're in a situation like that you really don't think about how dangerous it is because honestly he could have shot me," Tamishia Moats said. "I mean, he pointed the gun at me and basically said, you know, don't take another step, don't move, get back over here."
Powell, 25, a three-year member of the Dallas police force, issued a statement Saturday through his lawyers expressing regret for the incident.
"Actually, it would be comforting if we heard an apology directly from him," Tamishia Moats said. "But up to this point we have not received a personal call from him, directly. Maybe he has tried to reach out and we just perhaps missed his call. We definitely would accept his apology because, you know, he's a human being so we would, definitely."
Another allegation against Powell relating to an NFL player's wife surfaced over the weekend.
The Dallas Morning News reported that Maritza Thomas, wife of former Dallas Cowboys linebacker Zach Thomas, was handcuffed and spent approximately three hours in jail after Powell pulled her over for an illegal U-turn in July 2008.
Four of the five tickets issued against Maritza Thomas were later dropped including failure to show proof of insurance, running a red light, improper address on driver's license and a registration sticker was not on the windshield. She accepted deferred adjudication for the illegal U-turn charge, and her record will be cleared next month.
Powell stopped Moats outside Baylor Regional Medical Center in the Dallas suburb of Plano after his vehicle rolled through a red light. By the time the 26-year-old NFL player received a ticket and a lecture from Powell, his mother-in-law was dead. The ticket issued to Moats has been dismissed.
"I know that I got there safely as I could," Moats said Monday morning. "I flagged down all the traffic. I didn't run through the red light. I stopped at the red light. And I asked permission of the other drivers [at the intersection] to let me go; they saw me with the hazards on, so they let me go. They had grins -- they let me go. So I wasn't reckless at all."
When the exchange was at its most contentious, Powell said he could tow Moats' SUV if he didn't have insurance and that he could arrest him for fleeing because he didn't immediately stop when Powell turned on his sirens. The pursuit lasted a little more than a minute.
"I just had to say to him, 'Could you just write the ticket and let me go,' " Moats said. "I was thinking maybe he could walk up with me and let me say my goodbyes and then write me. ... I didn't have a problem with paying the ticket. I understand about the red light. I thought he would have some kind of sympathy."
Tamishia Moats wore a breast cancer ribbon Monday as she talked of memories of her mother, who died of the disease at the age of 45.
"Once, she took her entire bonus from work to buy Christmas presents for all of her kids because she loved the holidays and she believed that all kids should have Christmases, and she wanted each kid to have a least two gifts to open," Moats said.
"She was always looking out for other people before herself."
