Cambridge Cop Accused of Bias Twice Before

A white police sergeant whose arrest of a black Harvard professor ignited a national furor over race relations was twice before accused of racial bias, but cleared in both cases, according to internal affairs files released Wednesday.

Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr., for disorderly conduct at his home last month while investigating a possible burglary. The charge was dropped, and Gates alleged he was a victim of racial profiling.

The files were released in response to public records requests by The Boston Globe and the Boston Herald. Of the eight citizen complaints filed against Crowley during his 11 years on the force, two involved black males alleging racial bias, according to the records. He was cleared in all eight cases.

In a 1999 complaint, two black men in a car whose driver was ticketed for offenses including driving the wrong way down a one-way street said Crowley referred to a passenger as a "homeboy."

Another black driver complained in 2003 after he and a friend were detained by Crowley and other officers because they supposedly resembled suspects in a video store robbery.

The driver, whose name was redacted, wrote he was "especially concerned by the lack of restraint the officers demonstrated in this situation."

"I am curious if the description of 'Black Male' immediately suspends the rights of all brown skinned individuals within a 10-block radius," he wrote.

The other complaints included allegations that Crowley was rude to motorists he ticketed.

In a letter released with Crowley's internal affairs files, Police Commissioner Robert Haas wrote that the eight complaints stemmed from fewer than 1 percent of the cases in which Crowley has been involved. Those cases include 422 arrests and 1,866 citations, Haas said.