Harvard Professor Jailed; Officer Is Accused of Bias

[Anguille]

Now you're just being intentionally dense.

Gates had just busted down his own door in broad daylight. No clairvoyance required to surmise how that might look to people who don't know you.

The fact that the officer's first words to Gates were to ask him to step outside, indicates he intended to arrest him.

so now you're clairvoyant?

Why do you think cops ask people to step out side? To enjoy the summer breeze?

 

[Anguille]

The fact that the officer's first words to Gates were to ask him to step outside, indicates he intended to arrest him.

so now you're clairvoyant?

Clairvoyant would be a good name for a sock puppet.

I've been thinking I should have called myself Red Herring.

 

[Anguille]

Here's Gate's version of events.

I suspect we will never know what really happened and that is a shame.

Gates Says He Is Outraged by Arrest at Cambridge Home - washingtonpost.com

If a person dressed like a cop rang my bell late at night, said he was investigating a reported break-in but did not specify that it was my house that was reported as the one broken into nor that I resembled the person reported as having brocken in, and then this person asked me for ID, I would not let him into my house and I might even ask for ID before offering my own.

This sounds like a comedy, or tragedy, of errors. I think Gates had reason to be offended but I don't see where he has reason to claim the arrest was racially motivated. He's the one who brought up race. He made an assumption.

And millions of blacks are jumping on it as we speak, Gates himself has decided to turn this into a reason to spread hatred:

"I am appalled that any American could be treated as capriciously by an individual police officer. He should look into his soul and he should apologize to me," Gates said. "If so, I will be prepared to forgive him. I think that poor people in general and black people in general are vulnerable to the whims of rogue cops, and we all have to fight to protect the weakest among us. No matter how bad it was going to get, I knew that sooner or later I would get to a phone and one of my friends would be there to help."

His next project on race, he said, will be rooted in his arrest. "I hope to make a documentary about racial profiling for PBS," he said. "[The idea] had never crossed my mind but it has now."

He said the documentary will ask: "How are people treated when they are arrested? How does the criminal justice system work? How many black and brown men and poor white men are the victims of police officers who are carrying racist thoughts?

"I want to be a figure for prison reform. I think that criminal justice system is rotten."

I'm so sick of the race card. We have a black man as the president of the USA. Does this mean racism is dead? No, but it sure as heck means it's crippled and not nearly as strong as so many are claiming.

I'm sick of hearing about racial issues as well but I would be glad to see a documentary on discrimination by police and the penal system against the poor and against blacks done by Gates. He's done some excellent documentaries and admits to having had his own preconceptions blown apart. Notice he said he would be willing to forgive the officer?
Gates has a huge ego, no doubt, but he could be right about this incident too.

 

[Ravi]

so now you're clairvoyant?

Clairvoyant would be a good name for a sock puppet.

I've been thinking I should have called myself Red Herring.

I dunno, Squeaky, Pickled Herring might be better.

 

[Anguille]

Clairvoyant would be a good name for a sock puppet.

I've been thinking I should have called myself Red Herring.

I dunno, Squeaky, Pickled Herring might be better.

 

[del]

The fact that the officer's first words to Gates were to ask him to step outside, indicates he intended to arrest him.

so now you're clairvoyant?

Why do you think cops ask people to step out side? To enjoy the summer breeze?

depends on the situation, i suppose.

if he wanted to arrest him, there was no reason he couldn't arrest him where he stood. as i said, i'm not clairvoyant, but it seems a pretty big leap to assume that was the cop's motivation.

 

[Ravi]

so now you're clairvoyant?

Why do you think cops ask people to step out side? To enjoy the summer breeze?

depends on the situation, i suppose.

if he wanted to arrest him, there was no reason he couldn't arrest him where he stood. as i said, i'm not clairvoyant, but it seems a pretty big leap to assume that was the cop's motivation.

Back up...weren't there six cops hanging around outside?

 

[del]

Clairvoyant would be a good name for a sock puppet.

I've been thinking I should have called myself Red Herring.

I dunno, Squeaky, Pickled Herring might be better.

swede!

 

[Anguille]

so now you're clairvoyant?

Why do you think cops ask people to step out side? To enjoy the summer breeze?

depends on the situation, i suppose.

if he wanted to arrest him, there was no reason he couldn't arrest him where he stood. as i said, i'm not clairvoyant, but it seems a pretty big leap to assume that was the cop's motivation.

From what little I know about police procedure and making arrests, they often ask people to step outside first.

 

[Anguille]

I've been thinking I should have called myself Red Herring.

I dunno, Squeaky, Pickled Herring might be better.

swede!

I looooooooove herring!! This was me a few weeks ago.

 

[Shogun]

no, it's more like


edit


As mentioned earlier, I've read Gates's memoir and enjoyed it (have you? I bet you haven't). but this story robs him lol of all credibility as an educated man reacting like an educated man should. ESPECIALLY a man whose livelyhood comes from teaching about race issues in America. If his sole rebuttal is to cry racism after busting out a mom joke on cops doeing their jobs then, again, he becomes about as much of a disappointment as you are.

One bad day makes him a typical ******, hey Soggy? Awesome.

Given his "Your Mamma" response.... which, im sure, had a wite professor made an equivalent statement you'd waste no time applying similar connotations. But, thankfully, racism only works one way.

 

[Ravi]

I didn't know your momma was a racist statement. The things I learn here.

 

[Lonestar_logic]

I've had cops ring my door to ask if I noticed anything when things have happened in my street but none of them demanded i show ID. If Gates knew there was no break-in at his house, why would he think the cop was mistakenly investigating a break-in at his house. Is he supposed to be clairvoyant?

Now you're just being intentionally dense.

Gates had just busted down his own door in broad daylight. No clairvoyance required to surmise how that might look to people who don't know you.

The fact that the officer's first words to Gates were to ask him to step outside, indicates he intended to arrest him.

You ask them outside for safety. You don't know who else could be in the house or if the suspect has a weapon inside the house.

You should research police procedures before you make such asinine statements.

 

[Ravi]

Now you're just being intentionally dense.

Gates had just busted down his own door in broad daylight. No clairvoyance required to surmise how that might look to people who don't know you.

The fact that the officer's first words to Gates were to ask him to step outside, indicates he intended to arrest him.

You ask them outside for safety. You don't know who else could be in the house or if the suspect has a weapon inside the house.

You should research police procedures before you make such asinine statements.

Maybe you should. You can't arrest someone for disorderly conduct inside their own house...but you can when they are outside, in public.

 

[Valerie]

Now you're just being intentionally dense.

Gates had just busted down his own door in broad daylight. No clairvoyance required to surmise how that might look to people who don't know you.

The fact that the officer's first words to Gates were to ask him to step outside, indicates he intended to arrest him.

You ask them outside for safety. You don't know who else could be in the house or if the suspect has a weapon inside the house.

You should research police procedures before you make such asinine statements.

Also because the officer had no warrant to enter the premises and Mr Gates had a right to refuse entry, so the officer simply stated that he was there to answer a call about a possible break-in and asked him to step outside for a moment and show his ID.

 

[Lonestar_logic]

The fact that the officer's first words to Gates were to ask him to step outside, indicates he intended to arrest him.

You ask them outside for safety. You don't know who else could be in the house or if the suspect has a weapon inside the house.

You should research police procedures before you make such asinine statements.

Maybe you should. You can't arrest someone for disorderly conduct inside their own house...but you can when they are outside, in public.

Show me the procedure that states a police officer cannot make a disorderly conduct arrest in an individuals home.

 

[manifold]

I'm still waiting for someone to tell me what this officer did wrong. What did he do that violated standard procedure? What should he have done differently? You can sympathize with Gates all you want (personally I don't), but how exactly does Officer Crowley's actions constitute racism or racial profiling?

 

[Coloradomtnman]

After learning more about this, here's what I think happened:

Someone saw two blackmen forcing open a door and called the police. Probably someone with latent racist tendencies.

The sargeant arrived and, following procedure, asked Gates to step outside. But I think he went a little too far in his behavior toward Gates in his continued demand of Gates' ID.

Gates got angry because he perceived that the officers showed up because a black man was busting in a door in a wealthy neighborhood. Gates has an attitude and gets belligerent with the officer.

The officer gets angry that Gates gets belligerent with him and eventually arrests Gates on disorderly conduct (ak in the police force as "contempt of cop" charges).

Gates behavior was bad, and in many cases a cop will arrest you for behaving belligerently with him or her, especially if you insult the cop (I know from experience). Usually there are no charges filed or they are dropped (as in this case).

The cop shouldn't have arrested Gates but didn't realize the can of worms he was opening and might have been motivated by some latent racism.

Both are equally at fault for the unfortunate situation. Now that the Cambride PD has dropped the charges, they've openned themselves and the sargeant up to civil suit. Why? Probably because the disorderly conduct charges aren't enough to convict, and just think about the media's protrayal of the trial and its outcome, whatever that outcome may have been.

Gates should've remained calm and dealt with the officers civilly (which would've played better in his favor for accusations of "racial bias" against the Cambridge PD. And the police officer should've just left to avoid the political and media backlash and the possible civil suit consequential to the dropped charges.

By the way, I'm very liberal and would assume institutional racism, and did, but after learning more about the case, I think this is just bad judgement on both men's parts and neither institutional racism nor playing the race card.

However, Gates has taken it to far with all the media and cries of racial bias (which may be true, but not true enough).

 

[manifold]

After learning more about this, here's what I think happened:

Someone saw two blackmen forcing open a door and called the police. Probably someone with latent racist tendencies.

I'm calling bullshit.

The only reason to conclude latent racist tendecies is if you assume they wouldn't have bothered calling the cops if the two mean forcing open the door were white. I don't believe that for one second. If you do, that says more about your own latent racist tendencies than it does anything else. No offense.

 

[del]

The fact that the officer's first words to Gates were to ask him to step outside, indicates he intended to arrest him.

You ask them outside for safety. You don't know who else could be in the house or if the suspect has a weapon inside the house.

You should research police procedures before you make such asinine statements.

Maybe you should. You can't arrest someone for disorderly conduct inside their own house...but you can when they are outside, in public.

you're kidding, right?