Black Professor Wants Apology over Arrest

(CBS/AP)  Hours after police dropped a disorderly conduct charge against Dr. Henry Louis Gates Jr., the preeminent black scholar and Harvard professor told CBS Station WBZ Tuesday night that he would like an apology from the officer who arrested him.

"I would like an apology," Gates told WBZ by telephone from his home. "If he [the police officer] would give me a sincere apology and I believed it, I'd be prepared to forgive him."

Cambridge Police spokesperson Kelly Downes said that, "You had two human beings reacting to a set of circumstances and cooler heads did not prevail."

"It was not Professor Gates' best moment and it was not the Cambridge Police's best moment.

"I think both parties were wrong. Our position is race did not play a factor."

Earlier Tuesday, the city of Cambridge issued a statement saying the arrest "was regrettable and unfortunate," and police and Gates agreed that dropping the charge was a just resolution.

"This incident should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of professor Gates or the character of the Cambridge Police Department," the statement said.

"I'm outraged," Gates said in extensive comments made to TheRoot.com, a Web site he oversees. "I can't believe that an individual policeman on the Cambridge police force would treat any African-American male this way, and I am astonished that this happened to me; and more importantly I'm astonished that it could happen to any citizen of the United States, no matter what their race."

Supporters say Gates - the director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research - was the victim of racial profiling.

One of them, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, was unsatisfied with the resolution.

"The charges have been dropped, but the stain remains. ... Humiliation remains," Jackson said. "These incidents are so much of a national pattern on race."

Gates declined to comment Tuesday, and his lawyer, fellow Harvard scholar Charles Ogletree, did not immediately return a request to comment on the charge being dropped.

Officers responded to the home Gates rents from Harvard after a woman reported seeing "two black males with backpacks on the porch," one of whom was "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry," according to a police report.

Ogletree said the professor had returned from a trip overseas with a driver, found his front-door jammed and had to force it open. He was already inside, calling the company that manages the property, when police arrived.

Police said the 58-year-old Gates was arrested after he yelled at an officer, accused him of racial bias and refused to calm down after the officer demanded Gates show him identification to prove he lived in the home.

Ogletree said Gates showed his driver's license and Harvard ID - both with his photos - and repeatedly asked for the name and badge number of the officer, who refused. He followed the officer as he left his house onto his front porch, where he was arrested.

Gates joined the Harvard faculty in 1991 and holds one of 20 prestigious "university professors" positions at the school. He also was host of "African American Lives," a PBS show about the family histories of prominent U.S. blacks. In 1997, he was named by Time magazine as one of the 25 most influential Americans.

[alex65001]

My opinion is that i think Mr.Gates was a little angry while trying to
get into his home, he found himself locked out.I am also of the opinion
that whent he police officer had a few comments from Mr.Gates directed to him he got angry.I think the police officer should make amends with an
apoligy verbally ,or in writing,directly to Mr.Gates.
I am a white mae, past70 yrs in age .

[truth_police]

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.

[truth_police]

Any police official who claims that the Gates situation could not be resolved 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 justification refuse to provide their name and badge number when citizens lawfully and legitimately request it. There are some officers who simply do not have the necessary temperament to be on a police force. These are the ones who stoke the flames of excitement they are sent there to quell. They simply cannot subordinate their egos.

[6591Hou]

By MICHELE McPHEE
ABC News BOSTON, July 22, 2009
"Police officers from across Massachusetts are raising questions about possible favoritism over the handling of disorderly conduct charges that were lodged and promptly dropped against prominent Harvard University Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
The incident began when Cambridge Police Sgt. Joseph Crowley Crowley had responded to a call about someone apparently trying to break into Gates' Cambridge, Mass., home. Crowley said Gates called him a "racist cop" after he arrived at the house and asked the Harvard professor for identification. Gates refused after saying: "No I will not." Gates then, according to Crowley, said he was being harassed because he is a "black man in America." As the confrontation escalated, Crowley was then joined by a Hispanic Cambridge police officer and a black sergeant, according to two high-ranking law enforcement officials who have been briefed on the case and Cambridge police reports.

Gates was arrested and booked on a disorderly conduct charge. "The actions of the Cambridge Police Department, and in particular, Sergeant Joseph Crowley, were one-hundred-percent correct,'' said Hugh Cameron, president of the Massachusetts Coalition of Police. "He was responding to a report of two men breaking into a home. The police cannot just drive by the house and say, 'looks like everything is ok.'
"Sergeant Crowley was carrying out his duty as a law enforcement officer protecting the property of Professor Gates and he was accused of being a racist," Cameron added. "The situation would have been over in five minutes if Professor Gates cooperated with the officer. Unfortunately, the situation we are in now is the environment police work in now."
Jim Carnell, a union representative for the Boston Police Patrolmen's Association, said cops are "furious at the way Crowley is being vilified.
"The officer's mindset when is going in there is 'why was he breaking down the door?' Maybe there is a restraining order in place. Maybe Harvard University, who owns the house, changed the locks for some reason. The officer's job is to make sure everything is on the up-and-up,'' Carnell said. "Mr. Gates should be grateful that the police responded and explained himself with some civil discourse. It would have ended there. Instead, his arrogant, combative behavior gave the cops cause to wonder that something else going on."
A high-ranking Cambridge police official, who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity because the department is under orders "from the Mayor [E. Denise Simmons] not to talk," said that Crowley followed standard operating procedure for a call of a burglary in progress.

[6591Hou]

Following the sequence of the story as it is presented:
1. "Officers responded to the home Gates rents from Harvard after a woman reported seeing "two black males with backpacks on the porch," one of whom was "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry," according to a police report."

So to start this tale we have what appears to be a burglary of a residence, and a neighbor being a good neighbor and reporting suspicious behavior (personally I would question why the neighbor was keen eyed enough to see the apparent forced entry but not keen eyed enough to know what her neighbor looked like - I know mine). On with the tale.....

2. "Police said the 58-year-old Gates was arrested after he yelled at an officer, accused him of racial bias and refused to calm down after the officer demanded Gates show him identification to prove he lived in the home."

Okay at this point in the story we already have a declaration made by Professor gates of racial bias, apparent emotional outburst, and apparent reluctance to comply with instruction. Continue.......

3. "Ogletree said Gates showed his driver's license and Harvard ID - both with his photos - and repeatedly asked for the name and badge number of the officer, who refused. He followed the officer as he left his house onto his front porch, where he was arrested."

So Professor Gates finally showed his id, repeatedly asked for the badge number and name of the officer, and the officer went out of the home and onto the porch. Professor Gates followed the officer onto the porch and was arrested. I think that the officer would have been better served to have given the requested information, apologized for the inconvenience, and gone out to his car to radio in the final report (and not on the front porch)- Professor Gates would have been better served to have not pursued the officer out of the house (he could have received a copy of the report from the police afterward which would have had all of the information he requested) but he chose to continue to pursue the conflict. Of the two egos spinning out of control, one of them represented the local institution of higher learning and the other represented the local government - neither demonstrated their best.

[credibility2]

Why didn't this man just offer his wallet to the responding officers that presumably had proper identification in it? Or, was this guy just too belligerent to be remotely cooperative and intelligent? This thing sounds like a set-up by the black professor to once again make the world to be totally out to get the black folk. I'm sure that even with an apology, this guy's chip on his shoulder wouldn't permit an apology to be accepted, because it would have to be on his terms and probably never good enough for him. If I saw people, regardless of color, appearing to be breaking into a home, I'd also call the police and report my suspicions. What we're not really hearing is how this guy reacted when the police arrived to presumably ask him what he was doing. Again, if the police did this, which is procedure, the guy probably when recalcitrant on them, wouldn't cooperate and went on a frenzied rant.

[gp-usa]

I have a job. Do you?

[stinger1z]

Can I act the same way when a black police officer stops me?

[Meg003]

Whimwham, before you further embarrass yourself, look at the article. He was arrested for following the officers and yelling at them after he finally decided to let them see his government ID. Then, look at the picture that shows Dr. Gates yelling at the officers. One of them is black.

[endurorob]

Whimwham July 22, 2009 2:10 PM EDT



Karma, in your case would be if someone was breaking into your house and a neighber called the police. When they arrive the criminal is already in the house. He answers the door and tells the police he lives in the house. The police walk away and ten minutes later everything of value that you own is gone.

[Meg003]

I wonder if the professor has realized that the next time he goes on a trip none of his neighbors will dare call the police if they suspect a break-in. He needs to get a good security system and hire a house-sitter.

[endurorob]

Whimwham July 22, 2009 2:10 PM EDT


Aggressive ignorance + blind racism + trailer park trash mentality.

Wow. You hit the jackpot.




You hit the nutty liberal trifecta their. The irony is that someone like you that is an obvious racist uses the term to try and bully others.