Seems Harvard prof Henry Louis Gates Jr. locked himself out of his Cambridge house the other day, so he tried to break open the front door, which prompted somebody to call the police who, when Gates refused to tell them who he was or why he was breaking into the house, arrested him. Gates charges racism, possibly on the theory that simply everybody in Cambridge must know who he is.
Neighborhoods:
Free tagging:
Like the job UHub is doing? Consider a contribution. Thanks!
Ad:
Comments
Full Story Pending
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 4:27pm
According to the Globe story, he presented ID with his address on it.
And according to the AP...
By People's Republican
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 4:38pm
"An officer ordered the man to identify himself, and Gates refused"
Globe link
By neilv
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:07pm
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/200...
I hope that everyone gets a good night's sleep and decides that they want this event behind them.
Got mighty uppity
By Sock_Puppet
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:43pm
With Officer
CrackerCrowley.Man, don't you love those overly politely worded police reports? You can be certain that's not how it went down. I guess we'll have to wait to hear the other side.
One of the parts I was looking for in the police report was the part where Gates invited Officer Crowley into his residence. Not there. Funny. And yet there he is in it nonetheless.
I know Gates is not a large man. Did Crowley push his way into the residence?
Entering without permission?
By Kaz
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 6:06pm
No kidding. You'd think that since this was written after the fact, one of which being that Gates was lawfully in his own home, he might have mentioned exactly what authority he had to enter the home without a search warrant and not in hot pursuit.
you dont need a warrant or hot pursuit to enter a dwelling...
By Pete Nice
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 6:12pm
totality of the circumstances....it goes on and on.
True, if the door was open.
By anon
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 7:39pm
True, if the door was open.
Entering without permission it is
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 7:49am
Sergeant
CrackerCrowley followed Gates into his house without permission, and then refused to identify himself or provide his badge number.The only person breaking and entering in this story was the cop. Typical thug behavior, doesn't have to answer to a citizen. I guess Gates is lucky the douchebag didn't try to plant drugs in his house or tase him or something.
C'mon
By Anonymous
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:14am
The officer hadn't seen the identification yet of (the diminutive, black, male, approx.60 year-old,) suspect who walks with a cane, and wanted to make sure he didn't flee to evade arrest.
Plus if the door is left open and the permission has not been denied, he can enter.
However, it is true Sergeant ("respect mah authoritay!" Cartman) refused to identify himself or provide his badge number. It is also true, according to his report, that he did not apologize to the homeowner for accusing him of being a common (punk-ass, two-bit, high-noon) burglar.
Have there been a lot of high-noon burglaries lately in Cambridge, perpetrated by 60 year old black men?
Overreaction on both parts
By Stevil
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 4:40pm
Gates should have thanked the officer for checking in on him and the officer should have ignored Gates and left him ranting on the porch. Sounds like the other officer is supporting this story. Funny - Gates says he couldn't lock his door due to a prior break-in attempt - you'd think he'd have been more appreciative of his neighbor watching out for him.
My wife arrived home a couple of months ago to find an unknown white male in the building supposedly looking for our neighbor's son. Frightened, she left and called our neighbor and the police - both have had previous run-ins with this guy (not a thief - just an odd duck who works for the other well known institute of higher learning in Cambridge-turns out he's basically a low level stalker).
Point is - Mr. Gates - apologize to the officer and thank your neighbor for being vigilant - has nothing to do with you being black. People call the cops on suspicious white guys too. This has to do with you trying to bang the front door of your house down to get in - your neighbor and the cops did the right thing up to the point they put the cuffs on you - but even that probably serves you right for being a doober to someone just doing his job.
Innocent etc.
The Neighbor Isn't Vigilant
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:02pm
If she was, she would have noticed that the "two black men messing with the door" were:
1)HER NEIGHBOR!
2)The cab driver that brought HER NEIGHBOR home, as in "person connected with cab out front with trunk open"
You don't get vigilance points for not knowing your neighbors.
Stevil, I take it that you have never seen your black house mates repeatedly harrassed for the "suspicious" activity known as "opening the door to their own house" or their friends hassled for the "attempted break in" known as "ringing the door bell". It is all to easy to judge the Professor's reactions if you have never had to be that "safe white person" who tells the cops that everything is okay and to please let go of your housemate.
If it was a neighbor (unclear)...
By neilv
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:10pm
...that might be awkward, the next time one of them needs to run next door to borrow a cup of sugar.
60 year old black man
By anon
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 8:06pm
60 year old black man perpetrates "breaking and entering" in broad daylight using a cab driver as wheel man -- only it's his house and the cab driver drove him home.
The homeowner was not arrested for breaking and entering (thank god) but was arrested for disorderly conduct, in his own home, because his verbally expressed anger was drawing a crowd on the sidewalk. In other words, the cop's judgment was impaired by having an audience gather on the sidewalk and presumably a sense that his authority was diminished by the homeowner's verbal objections.
It's hard to imagine that disorderly conduct applies to a man in his own home objecting to the officers ongoing presence after the homeowner satisfactorily identified himself.
Have you had every
By Bruce
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:14pm
Have you had every experience possible in life? No matter the story, you seem to have a personal anecdote for it.
Sure you do
By Stevil
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 9:00pm
I live in a 7 unit building (been here for 16 years) - Two of our residents are tenants whom I've seen a total of twice each - one is fairly new the other is a corporate rental who has been here for 6 months - wouldn't know them if I ran them down in the street. So if I see a guy trying to force the door open and there's a cab in front of the building I should assume he's the cabbie?
As for my black housemates - never saw one of them get harrassed for "suspicious" activity known as "opening the door to their own house" or their friends hassled for the "attempted break in" known as "ringing the door bell". (white folks do sometimes live with black people at some time in their lives - including ME)
All of the people I've personally known to get hassled by cops were a) white and b) because they deserved it - so I never told the cop to let go of him. My black friends tend to be very well behaved and I've never seen them or their friends get hassled by the cops-but I'm sure it happens - just not so much simply because they are black.
In other words
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 9:26pm
You have a few black friends ... who are "well behaved" and may or may not have told you about their experiences. Maybe they have been lucky - or maybe, like the biracial writer Malcolm Gladwell growing out his hair to see what happens, they have learned to shrug off the constant scrutiny based on their "different" attributes.
Maybe they figured you didn't want to hear about it or would just "rationalize" it to make yourself more comfortable.
Perceived racism is more likely
By Stevil
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 10:35pm
I've been a minority - living in countries where you were lucky to see another white person in a day or sometimes even in a week. I know from first hand experience your first thought when you are "dissed" is that the it's racism (you don't get seated at a table, the cab refuses to pick you up but grabs the guy down the street, they don't rent you the apartment, a car almost sideswipes you when you step onto the street, the cop randomly stops and asks you what you are looking for etc., etc.) Nine times out of ten, maybe 99 out of 100 when you step back and think about it there's another perfectly reasonable explanation (and unlike here, in most other countries there are no laws preventing most of this behavior). It's a minority's natural reaction - obviously I did nothing wrong - that guy must be racist. Usually it's something like - the restaurant is seating a regular customer as is their practice, the cabbie didn't see you, you were an idiot for stepping in front of a turning car against the walk signal, the beat cop has been working the street for 4 years and has never seen you and your five 16 year old buddies in the alley you are just "wandering through" at 11 pm - who knows - but the most likely reason is almost certainly not racism - most cops have better things to do than hassle people so they can write up extra reports on incidents that are more likely to get them in the newspaper than get them a commendation from the captain.
I don't need to "rationalize" anything about other people's experiences of discrimination, curiosity about my physical attributes and cultural and religious practices etc. - actually been there, done that.
PS - I literally didn't get the apartment because I was a white guy - pure racism - they told me so flat out - also purely legal in Japan - at least in 1987.
Apples and oranges
By eeka
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 11:23pm
Japan doesn't have a history of enslaving Caucasians and denying them basic human rights for centuries.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
You're right-not centuries
By Stevil
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 11:45pm
They were only able to do it for a couple of years until we made them stop. If you haven't eaten for a few hours I'll be happy to send you a few web references to what the Japanese did to caucasians and many others during WW II - with no apologies for the behavior of slaveholders - they look like boy scouts in comparison to this stuff.
Other than that are you trying to say that racism is OK or at least not so bad if your culture hasn't enslaved and tortured the people you are discriminating against?
You're missing the point
By eeka
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:41am
Yes, I'm aware of the WWII history, but that wasn't the point. It's a bit of a different dynamic. The US has centuries of history where we've gone out of our way to teach people that Black folks are inferior to white folks. Yes, Japan has some bad racial history as well, but currently in Japan you have a dynamic where people in Japan are paying for plastic surgery to make their facial features look more Anglo, and where the government is funding people to come to the US to study how Japan might make some aspects of their country be more like America. It just isn't nearly the same kind of dynamic of dominance and oppression that we have here.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
dominance and oppression?
By Stevil
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:27am
Have you ever befriended any Japanese people? They may want to look like us, but I've had people ask me straight out on multiple occasions why I'm different from most Americans (and when they say Americans they think white people) whom they consider fat, lazy and stupid. You want dominance and oppression - try being a third or fourth generation Korean immigrant in Japan - God help you if you keep a Korean name or they find out your ancestry (the companies used to hire private investigators to make sure). I think it may now be technically illegal - but I'd fall off my chair if I ever heard of the law being enforced.
As for America - I got out of business school in the middle of the 1991 recession. Me and my white classmates were ecstatic to have one job offer - I didn't know a single white person that had more than 1 and about 1/3 had zero offers. I knew a few of my black classmates and I think the fewest offers one of them had was three. Four or five was the norm. Companies were fighting over even the academically middle of the road black students while my Phi Beta Kappa white friends were sweating bullets that their offers would get rescinded. Every major company I've ever heard of bends over backwards to hire educated black people and promote them through the ranks and has formal diversity programs to enhance opportunities for minorities (and women). They take these things very seriously if for no other reason than not to get sued - but most are pretty sincere about it. Take a guess on where the largest geographic area in Boston without an elementary school is? I haven't gotten the ruler out, but have looked at a map - try Allston to the North End and about a half mile in from the river (it's possibly the far NW corner of West Roxbury -but I believe that's a zoning issue). The area approximates the size of the airport. The white residents personally and in large numbers asked the mayor to build us a school. They even volunteered to raise money for the construction so the city wouldn't have to pay for it - just staff it with the understanding under the city's laws that half the kids would come from outside the neighborhood. The mayor himself in a rare move came to the Beacon Hill Civic Center and told them flat out that there werent' enough children of school age to make this a priority (because with no schools they all move away!). Since that meeting I believe we've built about a half dozen new schools in Boston - none in that area.
Are there problems - sure - but dominance and oppression that's in your and Al Sharpton's head - back to original point - perceived racism.
Is there no end to Swirly's wisdom?
By People's Republican
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:19pm
'Cause there's hardly a topic on which she doesn't proclaim herself as not just an expert, but _the_ expert. Leaving aside the obvious jibes that might be made about this kind of behavior, let me ask this:
-Were you there? No? If not, then it's not fair to comment on the behavior of the police, is it? Nor is it fair to compare them to actions by other cops in different places at different times.
-Do you know all of your neighbors by sight, especially if-- as might have been the case here-- their backs are turned? Well, knowing you, you probably going to say that you do, but please don't judge this woman for not knowing Mr. Gates. If someone saw me breaking into my place and called the police, I'd appreciate it.
-And please don't attack Stevil and others for having opinions that differ from yours. It's tedious. You don't know everything, and neither do I, but at least I don't act like it. For all we know the police were 100% the aggressors here, but you, _you_, weren't there, so you don't know for sure, and having been in (what you think are) similar situations doesn't give you special status here. You're smart enough and you seem to have some interesting things to say, but your habit of attacking people who don't fall into lockstep is really lame and ought to be beneath you. Have some tolerance, wouldja?
It is called "being old"
By SwirlyGrrl
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:37pm
Wisdom should come with it. So should experience (as recounted, above) and empathy.
Try it sometime. Please.
As for "tolerance", well, I guess I "tolerate" people born different from me. I simply don't - and won't - tolerate excuse making for lameness. There is a difference between "tolerating" different people and "tolerating" lazy thinking like yours. You would know that if you were wise, experience, empathetic, etc.
So not thinking like you you isn't tolerable?
By People's Republican
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:50pm
Wow. I've actually found, as I've gotten older, that I have more tolerance for differing viewpoints than I did when I was younger. I'm not ready to call that wisdom, though-- probably just part of growing up. You should give that a shot sometime.
Not everyone has to think like you in order to qualify as not evil and not stupid. Obviously in your world they do, but in your world everyone thinks alike, or at least ought to, and you know what? You're welcome to that world. You can have it. Sounds dull to me.
In my life, and in my work (I've had several careers) I've grown to appreciate, more and more, people who have different opinions than I do-- but I draw the line between someone who has a different opinion _and_ respects the opinions of others, and lazy fascist morons like you who think that everyone who doesn't agree with them is wrong.
oh more distraction from the
By anon
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 8:33pm
oh more distraction from the peanut gallery - make this about SwrrlyGrrly instead of the issue.
Escalated is a fair assessment of a situation. As soon as the cop knew the alleged B&E was not a B&E he had an obligation to DE-ESCALATE the situation. Instead he did not and it seems he may have lured the resident out on his porch to make a "justifiable" arrest. If so, that's an abuse of his power as a law enforcement officer.
I wait in anticipation of Ogletree's defense of Gates on this ridiculous waste of time and abuse of a constable's authority.
Well said
By eeka
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 10:28pm
Even the politely worded police report doesn't make any reference to apologizing, validating that he seems upset, trying to explain the common ground of how both sides would like to get this done with -- you know, all the basic human interaction stuff that the police departments hire people to teach to their officers. THAT'S what's wrong with the whole picture; had they done that, I'm guessing he WOULD be glad that someone had called the cops to check on his property.
http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
apologizing?
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 1:06am
The report said the officer asked the man to step outside so he could verify that he lived there. Gates said 'no I will not'. The cop said he was investigating a call from a resident of a break in progress. Gates said "why cause im a black man in america?"
Why should the officer who was investigating a potential violent crime have to apologize for anything after this initial interaction?
Would have gone a long way, I'm guessing
By Kaz
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 2:20am
Alternate ending to today's story, picking up from where the cop figures out he's stepped into hornet's nest:
Cop thinks to himself: Okay, it's pretty clear this guy is the lawful owner and there's no crime here.
Cop: "Sir, I apologize for having upset you and hope you have a good day."
Cop leaves and tells caller that she was right to call but that the person entering was the owner.
Cop calls in false alarm to dispatch and drives away.
Aaaaand, scene.
The cop didn't even need to *mean* what he said in apology. But instead of de-escalating the situation and trying to remove himself from the scene, a scene of NO CRIME TAKING PLACE, he invites Gates outside for more piss'n'moan and then locks him up for it.
So, why should he have to apologize after Gates flew off the handle? Because it's the right thing to do to try and bring the completely benign situation to a close the way it was before he arrived on a mistaken identity call.
Sometimes when innocent people are accused or implied to have done something illegal, they get mad. Imagine that. It costs the cop nothing at all to take the moral high ground and chalk Gates up to "just another angry (black) man" and walk away. Instead, he put on his Cartman sunglasses and proved to Gates that he should "respect mah authoritay!".
When one angry black man complains in public, it's disorderly conduct. When a million do, it's a peaceable right to protest. This story is picking up steam nationally, I wouldn't be surprised to find some of the latter heading this way soon.
Gates was never accused or implied of anything.
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 4:28am
and when you say a cop figures out something that is "pretty clear" it doesn't always end up like that. Your average Cambridge cop probably goes on a few thousand calls a year, lets say 2000. You can bet that of the 2000 that appear "pretty clear" that no crime was committed, 25 of them actually had some extreme circumstances. And you don't (or shouldn't) take any chances on any of those 2000 calls or someone might get hurt.
So like I said before, the cop still has to identify the man just to be sure. I might apologize that the situation might seem crazy, but I wouldn't apologize for asking Gates to idenfity himself. Thats the cops job.
And this has nothing to do with race. Id bet that more white people get arrested for disorderly conduct in Cambridge than black people. And of course if Crowley is really racist, he will have a clear detailed history of arresting black people for bad reasons. I have a feeling that is not the case.
And Gates should apologize to Crowley as well and understand that it is part of the job. No black officer would handle that call any different. Thats an important aspect.
The turning point in the police report, to me,
By Dan Farnkoff
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:23am
was the point where the officer decided that, even though this was clearly the owner of the house, he had to call Harvard Police anyway because he was "confused" by Gates' being pissed off. I don't think the cop was "confused" about much of anything at that point- I think he was just irritated by Gates' demeanor. What was his justification for calling Harvard police once he had confirmed Gates' i.d.? "Boys, I got some old guy from Harvard doing nothing wrong over here on Elm St...you might wanna send a few units- I think he's got a cane."
Because Harvard owns the house and might want to know about it.
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:24am
Im suprised Harvard didn't fix the door right away in the first place. Maybe the school is racist.
Know about what?
By Dan Farnkoff
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:38am
That he had responded to a false alarm at one of their buildings?
and that a door was broken
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:39am
and yea. Colleges like to know when any 911 service goes to one of their properties.
Another BS justification
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:44am
Gates was on the phone with Harvard when Sergeant Crowley started harassing him. But he was probably being tumultuous, which probably confused poor Sgt. C so much he couldn't figure that out.
oh lets wait for people to make phone calls now to the chief.
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:48am
thats helpful
On the phone with Harvard
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:14am
So far so good. Why should he step outside his house? There's no good reason to do that. And as for calling Harvard to report a broken door ... that's what Gates was doing at the time. If Sgt. C had been a little more patient and a little less rash, thing would have turned out better.
Here's the part where it would be interesting to see a transcript of Sgt. C's call to the Harvard Police. I'd imagine that the purpose of this call was not, as Pete suggests, to report the broken door, but to verify if they had any record of a black guy being a professor at Harvard.
As for calling the chief, that talk happened only after Sgt. C entered the house uninvited and began harassing Gates in his kitchen. It was probably a good idea, and Gates should have continued down that road rather than stepping out onto the porch, where he was arrested. Unfortunately, because his front door was broken, he couldn't lock it between him and Sgt. C. Gates was apparently thinking the chief could have told Sgt. C to cool his jets.
questions
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:18am
Why should he step outside his house? There's no good reason to do that.
To make sure everyone was alright? So he didnt have to go inside and break the door again? The situation or investigation wasn't over yet since the officer was still there.
No one is dumb enough to think Harvard or Cambridge doesn't have rich black people. Not even cracker cops.
Agreed on one point:
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:28am
Gates had no good reason to step outside his house.
yea but do you really think Crowley
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:29am
wanted Gates to step outside right away so he could charge him with a crime and/or arrest him? Why do you think he wanted Gates to come outside?
Why
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:33am
So he could easily get his hands on him if he felt he needed to.
And as a dominance move.
lol
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:36am
So he could easily get his hands on him if he felt he needed to.
And as a dominance move.
Ok. So you think Crowley thought Gates lived there but still wanted to harrass him because he was black? Or because he was black he probably broke into a house? Or a dominance move like "im white your black and Im giving out the orders here"?
Nope
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:41am
Crowley thought, at first sight, that Gates might or might not live there, and he wanted to control the situation. He could do that better on the porch. It's harder to control somebody on the other side of a doorway.
A dominance move = if you ask somebody to do something and he does, it's more likely he'll do the next thing you ask him also. Do they really not teach you that?
Glad you find this so funny.
Well its not funny now that you admit
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:49am
that Crowley might not have known Gates had lived there which I also could be true.
But since you already called him officer cracker, I have no idea what your definition of a "dominance" move might be. Someone that would call someone else "cracker" that they don't know might think the cop had a feeling of white superiority over black people and this "dominance" move would have been racially motivated. So if you did think that way, which it appears you don't, then yea, that is funny.
And they don't call them dominance moves anyway. But if he didn't know that Gates lived there then even you might admit that it would be better to get him outside so he could better handle the situation.
See here
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 10:18am
No, here.
Why do I feel claustrophobic all the sudden?
By eeka
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 10:29am
IT'S CLOSING IN!
Margins fixed for now
By adamg
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 10:32am
Clearly, I need to come up with a better fix for long discussions.
How about you boys and girls just start a new thread!
By Stevil
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 10:35am
Are you trying to create a roadside attraction with this ball of yarn - you've succeeded! A crowd is gathering.
sorry!
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 10:37am
I have to get back to work in an hour anyway....
“Into the garbage chute, flyboy!”
By Neal
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 10:45am
Why do I feel like this is turning into the trash compactor scene in "The Empire Strikes Back"?
A NEW HOPE. It wasn't
By StarWarsFan
Sun, 07/26/2009 - 11:53am
A NEW HOPE. It wasn't Empire. Geez, did you even watch those movies?
No good reason
By anon
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 2:56pm
He also has no good reason not be allowed on his porch...
Sgt. Crowley-
By Dan Farnkoff
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:00am
What went on in your head?
Confusion
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:41am
I hope I won't disappoint you by not making light of racism here. I don't think it's as funny as some people do.
Yes, anybody who is confused about why a man might be angry that you have barged into his house uninvited and are badgering him in his kitchen while refusing to identify himself is simply not terribly bright.
One salient point in this story that hasn't been pointed out yet is that Gates was arriving in the cab from Logan, where he had just flown from China.
I imagine that if I had just flown overnight from China and my front door was broken and some cracker was harassing me in my house, I might be more than a bit snippy.
You make clear light of it by calling the officer "cracker"
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:45am
So it is clear that you find what you want to find funny funny.
Gates was mad before the cop ever came into his house. And Id be cranky as hell if I came back from that trip. Would I complain about racicm if a white cop asked me to come outside and then talk about his 'momma'? No probably not. But I would apologize if I was curt and rude in the end if I were on either side.
In case you don't already
By Anonymous
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:52am
In case you don't already know, Pete Nice is a policeman who is firmly committed to defending the thin blue line no matter what - that's the nature of the thin blue line. All of us are on one side of it, all the men and women in blue are on the other side. Pete, are policewomen allowed on your side of the thin blue line or is it just the men?
If I were doing that I would have defended the charge.
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 8:54am
which I never did. But I am not a policeman anymore but I have been in hundreds of situations just like this one, as I have been in hundreds of calls involving live breaks. So I know what the proper response should be, and I know what department policies are and why they are like that. Its so the department doesn't get sued when people get hurt from negligent policework. This cop would have been negligent if he had simply left this house just because a guy with a cane was in the foyer.
More justifications
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:06am
Would he have been negligent if he had waited for Gates to return from the kitchen with his ID, instead of barging into the house uninvited?
It doesn't sound like that even happened.
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:10am
Crowley just wanted to talk to Gates outside and Gates said no. I don't think it even got to the point of asking for IDs yet.
Sequence
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:23am
1. When Professor Gates opened the door, the officer immediately asked him to step outside.
2. Professor Gates remained inside his home and asked the officer why he was there.
3. The officer indicated that he was responding to a 911 call about a breaking and entering in progress at this address. 4. Professor Gates informed the officer that he lived there and was a faculty member at Harvard University.
5. The officer then asked Professor Gates whether he could prove that he lived there and taught at Harvard.
5. Professor Gates said that he could, and turned to walk into his kitchen, where he had left his wallet.
6. The officer followed him.
It's perfectly logical, indeed advisable, to refuse to step outside your house to talk to a policeman or any other stranger.
not if there was someone still inside...
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:27am
You forgot to mention that the officer was by himself and probably didn't want to do a house search alone. Sometimes you like to get the residents to a safe place before backup comes and you can do a search.
And yea, that is another justification but the nature of law enforcement is to justify everything you do so the worse case scenerio doesn't happen.
That would be a valid reason
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:30am
If a house search was his objective, that would be a valid reason for asking Gates to step outside. He could have politely explained that reason and his objective. He did not. Nor did he ever do a house search. Therefore, that was not his reason.
Ill ask again here then...
By Pete Nice
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:32am
what do you think Crowleys reason was to ask Gates to come outside?
Apparently the cop was
By Anonymous
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:11am
Apparently the cop was granted access to the kitchen via the back door because the front door was still jammed close, at which time the cop must have realized there was no "breaking" (and entering).
Wrong read
By Sock_Puppet
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 9:18am
No, the front door was open and broken. Gates himself forced the front door open, and probably could not close it again.
He was on the phone with Harvard trying to get an order in to fix the door when the tumult happened. The sequence has Sgt. C following Prof. Gates from the front door to the kitchen.
Gates left his wallet with his ID in his kitchen - that was his initial entry to the house.
"Cracker"?
By People's Republican
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 10:02am
Hey Sock,
Whaddya say we keep our racist/classist slurs to our nice little hippie liberal selves, shall we? Really undermines your holier-than-thou arguments here.
Best, P.R.
Problem with the scenario --
By anon
Mon, 08/03/2009 - 6:40pm
Problem with the scenario -- the robbers are in the house and after the cops leave, after apologizing, the murder the owner. This happens, also -- and the perps would have instructed the home owner not to say anything upon threat of death to some hostage. Preposterous -- we or the cops don't know!!!
he's an older man who walks
By anon
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:00pm
he's an older man who walks with a cane. he DID say who he was, and show ID. check your facts before making yourself seem like a racist ninny, next time.
(easy to read the report!)
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/CAN...
The worthy don
By Jonas Prang
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:01pm
According to the police report, it seems as though the worthy don was behaving like a...well...like he had a chip on his shoulder.
http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/CAN...
I should have known better
By Jonas Prang
Wed, 07/22/2009 - 11:14pm
I should have read the police report more critically. My comment is just plain wrong.
The way I read the police report
By Kaz
Mon, 07/20/2009 - 5:15pm
Adam, your blurb is pretty screwed up. "...on the theory that simply everbody must know who he is."? What the hell, man?
Starting from the top:
Seems that he wasn't locked out, but has trouble opening and closing his front door. The woman who called is either a racist or really needs glasses. Gates has no expectation to have to defend himself from an accusation of breaking and entering into his own house. When did we start going all "guilty until proven innocent" in this country?
Sure, he starting getting pissed pretty fast, but he had a cop asking him if he lived in his own house! He never should have even let the cop in to begin with.
Then, read the report, the cop was having "acoustic" problems in the kitchen with his radio? Right. What housed language for "I had this guy calling me names and all lathered up, so I goaded him out of his house to arrest him for a public decency crime". Nevermind that the "scene" being made was from multiple Cambridge PD AND then Harvard University PD being on the scene at the behest of the cop, not Gates!
Gates made the fatal mistake of stepping outside of his house. But the "everyone was shocked at his behavior, justifying Disorderly Conduct arrest"...oh COME ON. He wasn't running in circles nude while jabbering at the moon and chewing on grass! You just didn't like that he was pissed and calling you out on how accusatory you started the entire encounter based solely on the account of some random woman on the street! The spectacle here was caused by the cop escalating the encounter in response to an angry "suspect"....and then suckering him outside where he could attach a charge, any charge since it's not illegal to be pissed inside YOUR OWN HOUSE.
Sure, Gates made some errors but this whole thing was predicated by how the cop handled the situation as it built up (and helped escalate it all the way until the arrest). Racism or not (and more likely on her part than the cop's, actually), I'm just tired of seeing cops abuse the law as a way to eventually guilt an innocent party into a crime. Traffic stops turned into taser events, tweaking innocent people into a conniption and then hitting them with disorderly conduct, etc...
Pages