Report: Harvard Scholar Gates' Arrest Avoidable

(CBS/AP)  A Harvard scholar and the police sergeant who arrested him last July after a confrontation outside his home both missed opportunities to "ratchet down" the situation and end things more calmly, according to a review of the case released Wednesday.

The independent review said "misunderstandings and failed communications" and a "certain degree of fear" each man had for the other led to the six-minute dispute that ended with the renowned black scholar being placed in handcuffs by the veteran white Cambridge police sergeant.

Read the full report

Sgt. James Crowley arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr. for disorderly conduct at his Cambridge home July 16 while investigating a possible burglary. Gates alleged he was a victim of racial profiling. Charges were later dropped.

Photo Essay: Henry Louis Gates Jr.

The conflict sparked a national debate on race relations, and President Barack Obama invited both men to the White House for a "beer summit," where Obama and Vice President Joe Biden sat down with the two men for a drink at a table on a White House lawn.

Watch: The July 2009 Beer Summit

The situation at Gates' home quickly escalated when it shouldn't have, according to the review put together by a 12-member panel assembled in September. The panel was made up of law enforcement personnel, academics, and experts on race relations and conflict resolution, none of whom had direct ties to the Cambridge Police Department.

The report suggests that Crowley could have more clearly explained what he was doing and why he was doing it, especially after being shown Gates' license and university ID. For his part, Gates could have used a more respectful tone to address the officer.

Neither man, in interviews with the panel, said he would have acted differently.

The incident was a "textbook example of how a police officer and a member of the community can clash if they do not share a sense of responsibility," according to the report.

Gates turned down a request to comment on the report when contacted via e-mail, deferring comments to his lawyer and fellow Harvard professor Charles Ogletree.

Ogletree said while the report contained some "impressive recommendations about going forward," he was disappointed that it left out contradictions between the police accounts of the call they got from a passer-by to report the incident and the actual transcript of her call. For example, the passer-by never mentioned that the people she saw on the porch of the home were black and never made any assumptions of criminality, Ogletree said.

He said it also plays down the fact that Gates was arrested after showing Crowley his license, with his address, to prove his identity.

"(Police) put an unreasonable burden on a citizen in what he should have done. He did everything he could have done," Ogletree said, adding later that "(Gates) was amazingly outraged that the officer didn't believe he was who he said he was."

The panel made 10 recommendations for avoiding similar incidents in the future, including better training for police in de-escalating conflicts, as well as more outreach to the public and academic community to teach understanding of the police department's job.

Crowley "was acting as he was trained," Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas said Wednesday, while acknowledging there should be alternative responses to similar situations.

Panel Chairman Charles Wexler says both men realized the incident was deteriorating within six to eight seconds, but saw the situation differently and didn't understand the other's point of view.

Gates and Crowley have since met many times and have developed "a friendly relationship," Ogletree said.

Messages left Wednesday for Crowley at the Cambridge Police Department and his home were not immediately returned, but he told WBZ-TV outside his home that he is glad it's over.

[ericv2644]

The report is worthless because the police did their own investigation, law enforcement think tank, that sound like an oxymoron( Military Intelligence), who really thought that a law enforcement group would really criticize an officer over a black man. That officer should be facing civil rights charges not acting cocky. I have to say as an Obama supporter I thought that was weak of the president to have a beer with this racist cop who obviously has issues with African American who are more successful that he has ever been. Fire his ass and let him see what it is to struggle.

[Perish1]

The police should have just walked away, got in their cars and left once it was realized that this was this man's legal residence. Any thing that went on after the ID was established was the fault of the police. It shouldn't matter what gates called them. They need to quit being such thin skinned wussies and get over it. No one else in any part of socity is allowed to take any action against anyone calling them names. Gates is a racist pile of crap with a chip on his shoulder and the cops are arrogant wussies with a chip on theirs.
Gates was probably lucky that he was a rich Harvard prof or he would have been beaten to death and a knife dropped by the body or mysteriously hung himself in jail.

[JustYourAverageReader]

Why fight, argue, and bash here? For this who take issue with this, why not simply confront the police department? Nothing will get resolved here.

[Dreadnut]

Idiot cop
Idiot black guy
Idiot President

[knowerseeker]

This is the version of events I believe: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html

[Perish1]

Yeah, but did you see how the cop kept trying to get him to come outside so he could slap him with a disorderly charge. This cop really knew waht he was doing. The nerve of this man getting upset with an officer of the law. This cop really showed him that any color, no person has the right to question a representative of the law without suffering all consequences. Let that be a lesson to any one who even dares to speak out against the almighty god rulers of the law!

[Harden_Tar]

Gates was playing the "Do you know who I am" with the "I'm an oppressed American Black" kicker the whole timr. No doubt he gets his way bullying people with that schtick all the time. Except this time it was cops who were buying none of it. I would have tasered him.

[Perish1]

Immediately upon being shown the man's ID and proof that he did in fact live there, the police should have left. Everything that happened after that and anything that Gates said was entirely his right. Any problem after that was caused by the officers trespassing and knowingly doing so. I don't care if they apologize for bothering the man or not. It doesn't matter that they were responding to a call. Once the man proved it was his home and told them to leave, they were obligated by law to do so. They were then the ones breaking the law. They had no right of arrest here. Mr Gates should sue the hell out of them and should win. I am a person who hates everything about Harvard, but this time the harvard guy was within his rights and the police violated them. I don't however see that it is a black thing. I think that the police just see themselves as above everyone else.

[Perish1]

I take back the part of the not seeing it as a black thing. I am sure that Gates saw it as a black thing. Still, has no bearing on the fact that the cops should have left when the man established his ID and told the cops to leave.

[patocc123]

Did gates immediately or in a timely manner show his ID when asked for by the police. What was the time frame between being asked for ID and when the ID was shown and what was said between then and what was the communication between other officers who were also checking the seen.

In response to a call the police have the obligation to finish thier assesment of the situation. If this was an actual breaking and entering and the perps were onsite and did bodily harm to the professors then you would probably be screaming fowl that the officers left without performing thier duty.

He should of not been arrested I agree but the cops should not just walk away without performing thier duty. They would be liable.

[mitdgreenb]

Professor Gates could have used better judgment and a more respectful tone, but it's fair to think he might become agitated when tired (returning from a trip) and after having identified himself in his own home.

The Officer could have used better judgment and a more respectful tone, but it's fair to think he might become agitated when answering the call of duty in an uncontrolled environment. (Just because Professor Gates was there does not exclude the possibility that another, potentially armed, person was hiding.)

They both might have performed better, but didn't. People are fallible; people lose their tempers easily when tired or stressed.

What the report... and the CBS article... fail to point out is a key error in judgment. Specifically, the President decided almost instantly that Professor Gates was in the right and that the officer was in the wrong. Although he later retracted this and arranged the "beer summit," his rush to judgment was truly unbecoming of a President, and a Commander-in-Chief with responsibility for thousands of people who wear a uniform and do dangerous jobs. The President was not stressed or tired when he did it, just drunk on power. He has no excuse.

[knowerseeker]

mitdgreenb: Yes, I am a former Obama supporter, and this incident was the first time I questioned his integrity.

[bankersvox]

yes , good point. It was sobering and disappointing at the same time.
One picture of the "beer summit" shows a limping Professor with Cain being helped down the WH steps, by the Police officer, while the President walks far ahead , not helping the older guy , at all. IT made the Pres look uncaring, but it was never shown in the mass media.

Caring ? The Policeman.
The police officer comes out professional. The Pres and the Prof like whinning academics, with script in hand.
What did we learn from this ? The President should not be involved in local issues like this. And that he has issues with authority, himself. Like the time he accused Doctors of doing surgery, to make money, on kids - take our their tonsils ?
He is learning, and doing a better job. If Biden would listen.

[hamsterattack]

there are way too many cops like this. racist overreacters who are more likely to shoot first and ask questions later. i hope he gets
what's coming.

[mick7744]

Of course it was avoidable! Henry Louis Gates Jr could have kept his race-baiting mouth shut and not have gotten quite so upset because some white cop had no idea who Henry Louis Gates Jr was.

I guess that having built his entire academic and professional career on divisive race relations, old habits can be hard to break...old crutches hard to give up.

Gates' jive-@ss antics and the subsequent Whitehouse fallout has cost President Obama my vote.

Shame...

[justsane-2009]

Of course it was avoidable! the officer could have looked at mr. gates' identification, which proved that he was in his own home, apologized for the misunderstanding, and left! failing that, he could have used a little common sense; home burglaries are rarely carried out by middle-aged men wearing polo shirts, and walking with a cane. he could have conferred with the campus police as mr. gates requested. yes, it was completely avoidable, and given that the ultimate responsibility for the arrest falls on the shoulders of the police officer, i'm not sure why you are intent on making it about mr. gates' behavior.

i would be extremely surprised if you voted for obama; the "fallout" from this has come primarily from the right.

[knowerseeker]

mick7744, well said.