From the "Black People Arrest Themselves" files

[CountDeMoney]

Silly maybe, but proper within the definition of the charge.
He was disturbing the public peace 

It has been established by now that both those statements are wrong.

How so? Dropping charges doesn't qualify.

[CountDeMoney]

It is also clear from the report that while the officer walked out of the house down the stairs to the sidewalk, Gates never left the porch of the house.

It's still outside.

[Berkut]

I love the argument that there was no reason to suspect Crowley is a racist when Gates went on his tirade and called him a racist, but it turns out he was lucky and Crowley actually was a racist after all, because he arrested Gates for going on a tirade, which he would only do if in fact he was really a racist!

It is like in Naked Gun when he is getting the award for killing his 200th drug dealer, and he mentions that that last two were just luck - he accidentally backed over them with his car, and they just happened to be drug dealers.

[Eddie Teach]

I suspect that race may have played a role in the officer's actions.  That suspicion is based on the difficulty I have imagining that in situation involving white persons of similar prominence in that community - such as the Mayor of the city or Justice Breyer - that the officer would have arrested that individual, cuffed him on the porch of his house, and then detained him in custody for 4-5 hours.  And so far, no one in this thread has suggested that the latter is a realistically imaginable scenario.

That's not really a good analogy. Even the densest cop would know he should treat the mayor with kid gloves. An academic, otoh, would be considered just another random civilian, albeit one who lived in a nice neighborhood.

[KRonn]

Some local links from the Boston media.

First link is from a blog but it has the police report; can't verify if it's valid.

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http://newsbusters.org/blogs/p-j-gladnick/2009/07/23/boston-globe-scrubs-henry-louis-gates-arrest-report-website


http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/officer_in_gate.html
Officer in Gates case says he won't apologize

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/23/birth_of_a_flashpoint_gatess_neighbor_captured_the_moment/
Gates's neighbor captured the moment


http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/23/friends_say_skip_gates_rides_no_high_horse/
Professor is down-to-earth, friends say

[Caliga]

Interesting.  FYI, Reggie Lewis was a basketball player who collapsed and died on the court (forget whether it was an actual game or what).  He also happened to be black. 

Officer in Henry Gates flap tried to save Reggie Lewis
Denies he's a racist, won't apologize

Thursday, July 23, 2009 - Updated 0m ago

The Cambridge cop prominent Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. claims is a racist gave a dying Reggie Lewis mouth-to-mouth resuscitation in a desperate bid to save the Celtics [team stats] superstar's life 16 years ago Monday.

"I wasn't working on Reggie Lewis the basketball star. I wasn't working on a black man. I was working on another human being," Sgt. James Crowley, in an exclusive interview with the Herald, said of the forward's fatal heart attack July 27, 1993, at age 27 during an off-season practice at Brandeis University, where Crowley was a campus police officer.

It's a date Crowley still can recite by rote - and he still recalls the pain he suffered when people back then questioned whether he had done enough to save the black athlete.

"Some people were saying 'There's the guy who killed Reggie Lewis' afterward. I was broken-hearted. I cried for many nights," he said.

Crowley, 42, said he's not a racist, despite how some have cast his actions in the Gates case. "Those who know me know I'm not," he said.

Yesterday, Lewis' widow, Donna Lewis, was floored to learn the embattled father of three on the thin blue line of a national debate on racism in America was the same man so determined to rescue her husband.

"That's incredible," Lewis, 44, exclaimed. "It's an unfortunate situation. Hopefully, it can resolve itself. The most important thing is peace."

Gates, 58, an acclaimed scholar on black history and a PBS documentarian, went on the attack against Crowley on Tuesday, demanding he apologize for arresting him for disorderly conduct last Thursday while investigating a reported break-in at his home. Gates, returning from a trip, was seen by a Malden woman trying to force his front door open. Police alleged he initially refused to identify himself.

Though he harbors no "ill feelings toward the professor," a calm, resolute Crowley said no mea culpa will be forthcoming.

"I just have nothing to apologize for," he said. "It will never happen."

Attorney Charles Ogletree, Gates' close friend and fellow Harvard savant, told the Herald, "It's regrettable and unfortunate that the officer feels that way, and I do hope that some progress will be made in healing this wound."

Gates, who upon his arrest allegedly bellowed to a gathering crowd on Ware Street, "This is what happens to black men in America!" believes he was targeted by Crowley - whom he called a "rogue" cop - because of his race.

Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Haas, with Gates attorney Walter Prince's consent, agreed Tuesday to drop the charge of disorderly conduct, calling the incident "an unfortunate set of circumstances."

Crowley, an 11-year veteran of the force, oversees the evidence room, paid details and records unit. He also coaches youth basketball, baseball and softball.

Joseph McDonald, a former director of public safety at Brandeis, said Crowley was "a real pro," calling Gates' racial profiling charge "strange."

"You just do the job as a cop. You don't look at the color of skin. You're just trying to help people," said McDonald, 57.

[Berkut]

So you are saying this officer, who is a known racist, was present at the death of Reggie Lewis?

Interesting...

[KRonn]

Also in the local news is info that Prof Gate's neighborhood has had a number of recent burglaries, 8 or 9 in the area. Those burglaries were in the daytime, with doors forced open, according to one article I read in the paper. And that Gate's house was hit also. He supposedly even mentioned that to the cop, saying that was why he couldn't lock his door. So the professor maybe should instead have been happy, and understood quite well, why a cop responded to a burglary call and started asking questions.

[Caliga]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/23/friends_say_skip_gates_rides_no_high_horse/
Professor is down-to-earth, friends say

Yeah, I mentioned at the very beginning of this thread that I'd only heard really good things about Gates.  One of my workstudy students either had him for a class or had friends that had, and after we had a forum with Cornel West (who was awesome, BTW) we somehow got to talking about Gates, who she said was 'really cool' and 'really funny'... stuff like that.

[Valmy]

It seems like a misunderstanding between two well meaning people.

Pity it got this negative national press.

[Savonarola]

It seems like a misunderstanding between two well meaning people.

Pity it got this negative national press.

International, even, this is a lead story on the BBC and Le Monde's on line sites.

[Berkut]

It seems like a misunderstanding between two well meaning people.

Pity it got this negative national press.

Wouldn't it be awesome if Gates apologized for being a douchebag?

Not likely, seems like no matter how nice a guy he is, he has a double helping of pride.

[Valmy]

International, even, this is a lead story on the BBC and Le Monde's on line sites.

*sigh*

Could this nothing story be more overblown?

[KRonn]

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/23/friends_say_skip_gates_rides_no_high_horse/
Professor is down-to-earth, friends say

Yeah, I mentioned at the very beginning of this thread that I'd only heard really good things about Gates.  One of my workstudy students either had him for a class or had friends that had, and after we had a forum with Cornel West (who was awesome, BTW) we somehow got to talking about Gates, who she said was 'really cool' and 'really funny'... stuff like that.

Yeah, but hearing him speak on the local news, and then demanding that the officer BEG forgiveness, has left me feeling a bit otherwise about the illustrious professor.

[KRonn]

It seems like a misunderstanding between two well meaning people.

Pity it got this negative national press.

Agreed. Talk about blowing something out of proportion.

But hey at least being in the local area, I might get to see Al Sharpton, Rev Jackson or  others marching and demonstrating.   

Just hope they don't snarl up traffic too much.