Obama: Cops Acted "Stupidly" in Professor's Arrest

By: Brian Montopoli
Topics: In The News

(AP)

President Obama was asked at his primetime White House news conference Wednesday about the recent arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Gates, who is African-American, has been trying to push open the front door of his house, which was stuck, which prompted a neighbor to call police.

"I should say at the outset that Skip Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here," the president said. "I don't know all the facts." He said the initial situation – in which police were called after seeing someone attempting to enter the house in an unconventional way – was fine.

"I mean, if I was trying to jigger into - well, I guess [the White House] is my house now, so…" he said, prompting laughter. "It probably wouldn't happen. But let's say my old house in Chicago. Here, I'd get shot."

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He then went on to discuss what happened after the police showed up at Gates' home.

"My understanding is, at that point, Professor Gates is already in his house," he said. "The police officer comes in. I'm sure there's some exchange of words. But my understanding is, is that Professor Gates then shows his I.D. to show that this is his house and, at that point, he gets arrested for disorderly conduct, charges which are later dropped.

"Now, I don't know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that," Mr. Obama continued. "But I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That's just a fact."

The president then said that a racial profiling bill he worked on in the Illinois state legislature, which was prompted by "indisputable evidence that blacks and Hispanics were being stopped disproportionately," was a sign of how "race remains a factor in the society."

"And even when there are honest misunderstandings, the fact that blacks and Hispanics are picked up more frequently and often time for no cause casts suspicion even when there is good cause," the president said. "And that's why I think the more that we're working with local law enforcement to improve policing techniques so that we're eliminating potential bias, the safer everybody is going to be."

The police sargent accused of racism in Gates' arrest, Sgt. James Crowley, said Wednesday he would not apologize to Gates, who has demanded an apology.

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Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is the senior political reporter at CBSNews.com.
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by myopinion44 August 7, 2009 12:57 PM EDT: First of all this has no place in a presidential address, second it would have never been mention outside of local news if had been a white person, and third Obama says the white officers need to not be so harsh with black and Hispanic people? Well I'll tell you what, when I stop seeing a new headline on my local news every single day about a house or apartment getting broken into and the occupants held at gun point by the black or Hispanic people who are stealing all of their stuff then maybe we can talk about police issues.; Reply to this comment


by Mick75024 July 28, 2009 5:32 PM EDT: @ wtcmedic911

Perfect post. I agree 100%; Reply to this comment

by daisyjingles July 27, 2009 1:35 AM EDT

And why were the charges dropped?

Because there was no crime by the homeowner.

The charges were stupid.

Reply to this comment


by pasmalltown July 27, 2009 10:57 AM EDT: Yes we know the charges were dropped, now drop your instance that an apology in order - the man was doing his job and perhaps if he had it to do over again he would have done things differently, but Monday morning quarterbacking on your part just fans the flames. And I believe that if one apology is offered, then two are in order. And I apologize to you for beating a dead horse..........

by daisyjingles July 27, 2009 1:32 AM EDT

"The police sargent accused of racism in Gates' arrest, Sgt. James Crowley, said Wednesday he would not apologize to Gates, who has demanded an apology."

Sgt. James Crowley needs to grow up and give Gates the apology deserves. Otherwise, Crowley will have learned nothing from his behavior.

Police often use tricks to get into your place where they would like to look around. "Could I use youur phone?" gets them in a lot. Having found no burglary, Officer Crowley should have apologized for the intrustion and left.

An apology from Crowley might help the cummunity move on.

Crowley should be a man and apoligize.

Reply to this comment


by pasmalltown July 27, 2009 7:40 AM EDT: Tricks? Crowley was doing his job when he answered a call about a "possible" break-in - and it's interesting to note that Officer Crowley is not "demanding" an apology from Gates, it remains to be seen who started the argument, no doubt a heated verbal exchange took place. It's time to stop beating a dead horse - if you feel Crowley needs to apologize, then Gates should be a man and apologize for his rude remarks as well...


by daisyjingles July 27, 2009 12:32 AM EDT: Police like to stay in somebody's house a bit so they can look for something "bad" and write a ticket.; Reply to this comment


by pasmalltown July 26, 2009 7:40 AM EDT: Glad to see that interest in this "local" issue is waning. Perhaps Pres Obama can now focus on more important issues(?) - It was amusing to see that the White House further "clarified" Obama's remarks with the word "stupid" included, Congress will have their "vaction" without dealing with health care because Obama "wants them to get it right" amd it's O.K. as "long as they're still working on it". And the health care industry is sitting back saying they're in a "win win" situation, "you can't blame us no matter what happens in the reform arena". What a twisted world we live in when ploitics can redefine the notion(and importance)of a single word - "stupidity".......; Reply to this comment


by truth_police July 25, 2009 7:04 PM EDT: Any police official who claims that the Gates situation could not be quelled without an arrest, given the known facts, is either incompetent or is lying through his teeth, and should NOT be on any police force. Typically, they are the ones who arrogantly and without njustification refuse to provide their name and badge number when citizens lawfully and legitimately request it.; Reply to this comment


by truth_police July 25, 2009 7:03 PM EDT: A Disorderly Conduct offense can NOT be applied to a person who is in his own home (Disorderly Conduct: "Conduct that is likely to lead to a disturbance of the PUBLIC peace or that offends PUBLIC decency"). The cop missed this decisive legal point entirely. Fortunately, the Prosecutor did NOT miss it and Nolle Prossed it. In the third from last paragraph in the cop's complaint narrative the arresting officer states that while inside Gates' home he told Gates he "would speak with him [Gates] outside" and the cop proceeds to explain WHY the officer wanted to speak to Gates "outside" rather than inside the house. Gates' conduct outside his home on his front porch, was identical to his conduct inside his home. This conclusively demonstrates the cop did NOT believe that Gates' conduct inside his home was "disorderly" on its face, otherwise, why would the officer issue a directive that would move that conduct outside, thereby CREATING a "public" disturbance which would never have occurred and would never have been "PUBLIC" if Gates had NOT followed the officer's directive and had remained inside his home. There are only 2 possibilities. Either the officer, in bad faith, set Gates up for a sucker-punch arrest that he knew he could NOT make if Gates stayed inside his home (Entrapment). Or, the officer never believed Gates' conduct (inside or outside his home) constituted a public disturbance. Either way, this was a bad, unjustifiable arrest that does not pass the smell test. Entrapment does NOT constitute a valid lawful basis for an arrest.; Reply to this comment


by woodynews1 July 24, 2009 1:21 PM EDT: From an up to date English language standpoint, the word stupid can mean foolish. When you consider that Crowley was called an "expert" in racial profiling (How would he be an expert and lifetime Scholar, Educator and Sociologist Gates not?), he did act "stupid"(like a fool in the biblical sense). Those of us who have been trained (USAF DOD) in race relations know foolish race relations behavior when we see it. The Police Department dropped the charges. They know that it was stupid!

Signed: Certified in Human Relations and Trainer of Security Personnel(25 years)
------
History will clearly show that some of our smartest Presidents have said some stupid (foolish) things. Now if smart Presidents can said stupid (foolish) things, how about police officers (I went to school with a few who aren't that smart)?

Right or wrong, Mr. Obama is the President of these United States!

Pray for all concerned!; Reply to this comment


by Peace_Officer July 24, 2009 11:28 AM EDT: Please consider for a moment that you are a police officer.
You do not get to choose what calls you are sent to, or whether you will be placed in harms way for the safety of a stranger or the protection of their property. And you never get to choose how people decide to behave towards you when you arrive.

In this case I wonder if it ever occurred to the homeowner that the officer arrived at his home, fully prepared to place himself in harmsway in order to protect the homeowner?s property if he was required to do so.

Here are the reasons that this incident became a more than it should have:
1) The homeowner refused to identify himself, because in his head he knew he was the homeowner. (The officer only knew that two unknown men were indside a home after using a crowbar to gain access, one of the men was still visibly holding the crowbar.)
2) After the officer established that one of the men was the homeowner he began leaving. The homeowner followed the officer outside the home on a verbal tirade about his perception of harassment.
3) A small group of people began gathering around the disruption in front of the home.
4) The homeowner continued his tirade after being repeatedly told by the officer to cease his behavior or be arrested for disorderly conduct.
5) The homeowner continued his tirade despite the lawful warning.
6) The LAST thing that went wrong was that the officer didn?t walk away; he decided to stay.
7) A LAWFUL arrest was made.
8) Political pressure allowed the disorderly behavior to go unprosecuted.
9) The President of the United States decided to comment about his friend?s circumstance during a ?State of the Union address? to the nation.
10) The President states that the police acted stupidly.

It seems that three people could have made better choices, begining with the homeowner.; Reply to this comment