http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/07/23/officer.gates.arrest/index.html It reads: (CNN) -- A Cambridge, Massachusetts, police officer said Thursday he will "never apologize" about how he handled the arrest of prominent black Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. Sgt. Jim Crowley said he has nothing to apologize for in regards to the arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. "That apology will never come from me as Jim Crowley, it won't come from me as sergeant in the Cambridge Police Department," Sgt. James Crowley told Boston radio station WEEI. "Whatever anybody else chooses to do in the name of the city of Cambridge or the Cambridge Police Department which are beyond my control, I don't worry about that. I know what I did was right. I have nothing to apologize for." Crowley also said he was exercising caution and is clearly not a racist based on his previous actions. Those actions, Crowley told the Boston Herald, include giving mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to former Boston Celtics star Reggie Lewis, who suffered a fatal heart attack in 1993 at Brandeis University when Crowley was a campus cop. "I wasn't working on Reggie Lewis the basketball star. I wasn't working on a black man," Crowley told the Boston Herald. "I was working on another human being." Gates was arrested last week at his home after a confrontation with Crowley. Cambridge authorities on Tuesday dropped disorderly conduct charges against Gates. Crowley also told WEEI that when he asked Gates to come out of his home, he thought a break-in had occurred or was still happening. "I didn't know who [Gates] was. I was by myself. I was the only police officer standing there, and I got a report of people breaking into a house," Crowley told WEEI. "That was for my safety first and foremost. I have to go home at night, I have three beautiful children and a wife who depend on me. So I had no other motive than to ensure my safety." Responding to a reporter's question on Gates' arrest, President Obama said Wednesday night that the Cambridge police "acted stupidly." Obama defended Gates while admitting that he may be "a little biased" because the professor is his friend. "But I think it's fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry; No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, No. 3 ... that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately." The incident shows "how race remains a factor in this society," Obama said. Crowley told WEEI that he was "disappointed" that Obama interjected himself into the situation. "He's the president of the United States, and I support the president to a point," Crowley told WEEI. "I think it's disappointing that he waded into what should be a local issue and something that is -- really that plays out here. As he himself had said at the beginning of that press conference, he didn't know all the facts. He certainly doesn't based on those comments. I just think it was very disappointing."
If I have to break into my own house because I forgot my keys, a neighbor calls the police because they see someone trying to break in and the cops come to my door, the first thing I do is say "thank you" to both the police and my neighbor. I certainly don't become belligerent when asked to show my ID.
He broke into his own house? Well, once he identified himself properly, did they cut him loose? I mean, they didn't take him to the station, did they?
Did he forget his keys? I thought he was just returning home and the neighbor called to report someone breaking into the house. I hadn't read anything about him not having keys.
But the police work for the GOVERNMENT I thought your idol said the following: "The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, 'I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Oh and sorry for misspelling his name last time.
Well with or without having keys here are my thoughts. 1. Everyone should be happy to have watchful neighbors who look out in their neighborhood. I know I'm glad that I have very thoughtful neighbors with large families because they keep an eye on the neighborhood and question any suspicious behavior. I have a neighbor who once with a car parked outside of my house, even in the middle of the day, went and asked the woman what she was doing just to make sure nothing suspicious was going on. 2. If a cop comes to my door and asks for identification there's a good chance it is for a justifiable reason. After I show him it I'll ask him/her what the reasoning is and am pretty sure I wont be angry upon hearing it, after all they're just trying to do their job and their job is to protect us. 3. The professor pretty much loss any sympathy with me with the reports that he just started being belligerent with the officer with the racial questions. Stereotyping cops and their motives is no different that stereotyping anyone else, and all it does is lead to more tension. There was no reason to ask the cop "this is because I'm a black man, isn't it." If the professor had an issue with how the cop dealt with him during the asking for identification and proceeding events and he (the professor) had been calm he could have filed a complaint with the officer's precinct or the city. 4. Back to the stereotyping thing. Not all cops are bad, assholes, or people with power trips looking to shit on 'civilians' - just because the bad cops get the most publicity (which is how it is with everyone because negative news sell and people enjoy shitting on each other) doesn't mean a majority of cops are like that. We'd all be better if we just took each situation like this on a case by case basis and none of us would feel the need to yell out it's because I'm a black man/woman/gay/Latino/Muslim/Christian/Furry/Nude Bull Rider. 5. Obama shouldn't have given his opinion on this because the cops did not act stupidly from the report I read but rather acted like any law enforcement should have - in the interest of safety for him or herself, the suspect who was acting belligerently, and the neighborhood. There was no reason to have a presidential public opinion on this as it will only make it worse.
Until/unless a transcript/tape of the incident appears, it's pretty hard to know who escalated the situation inappropriately first. My best guess is that they are a couple of assholes. barfo
http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates1.html The narrative about what happened.
Obama acted stupidly for making public comments and judgements on this situation. Way to go Mr. President. Play the race card. Way to represent our country. Stupid.
