From the "Black People Arrest Themselves" files

[The Minsky Moment]

Good use of public resources by Cambridge P.D. there.  I think they need a few more officers to take an aging professor into custody.  He might try to deconstruct the squad car and make a getaway.

[Darth Wagtaros]

Boston talk radio is interesting. On one hand are the wingnuts who say silly ass crap like, "well I'm just going to be a racist because black people are all whiners" and the other are stellar tools who call up saying 'it has to be racist because cops are all racist' or the best one who said the cops must have known who he was and where he lived because he is an important scholar and went out of their way to fuck with him.  Because they couldn't handle a black professor.

[HVC]

Good use of public resources by Cambridge P.D. there.  I think they need a few more officers to take an aging professor into custody.  He might try to deconstruct the squad car and make a getaway.

If they didn't have so many cops then some lowlife might claim something as absurd and cliche as police racism... oh wait :p

[CountDeMoney]

What I see is a sort of collision between the unwritten and written rules.

I assume that, strictly speaking, the cops have no right to arrest someone for simply being mouthy. The fact is that they probably do that all the time - to certain people.

Thing is, they don't usually do it to eminent upper middle class or upper class types. They are "supposed", under the unwritten rules, to defer.

OTOH, under the written rules, cops should not be making those kinds of distinctions - they ought to treat everyone the same. Reality is of course that they don't.

The two opposite points of view are easy to see from this perspective.

On the one hand, the natural conclusion is that the cop wasn't treating this fellow with the deference he "deserved" under the unwritten rules because he was Black. Thus, under this POV, it seems likely the cop was racist.

On the other hand, the Prof was (allegedly) making a big production out of demanding deference. One can see how this would be annoying. The "deference" owed for being prominent isn't infinite, as (for example) many a drunken celebrity driver or molesting politician has discovered.

The cop's problem is that, unlike those cases, he doesn't have a really valid reason for arrest - disturbing the peace sounds thin. So, not 'racism' necessarily but more like a nuisance or grudge arrest.

Malthus, what part of this discussion did you miss?
Mouthy to a cop is not an offense.  Disturbing the public peace is;  which is what happened once Gates took his tirade outside the house, following the officer towards the car.

[Admiral Yi]

Good use of public resources by Cambridge P.D. there.  I think they need a few more officers to take an aging professor into custody.  He might try to deconstruct the squad car and make a getaway.

They needed the muscle in case Gate's posse showed up.

[CountDeMoney]

Oh, bullshit.  It was a proper charge, and a proper arrest. 

It was a silly arrest and an embarassing incident for someone so senior in the department who should know better.  And the local DA's office is never going to prosecute this. Time to cut losses.

Silly maybe, but proper within the definition of the charge.
He was disturbing the public peace, and charged as such.  Still don't see what the big deal is.

[Berkut]

That picture must be doctored, because the eminent professor, who we know would never ever lie, said he was sick and could not possibly yell at anyone.

[jimmy olsen]

He might try to deconstruct the squad car and make a getaway.

Nice

[Berkut]

On that reasoning, the only way something like this could happen, barring some kind of mental breakdown by the officer, or glitch in the Cambridge personnel system that allowed a complete incompetent to be promoted to sergeant, is that something else is going on here.  And the only something else that comes to mind is race.

Right. Lord knows the only way a police officer could arrest someone for acting like an asshole is if he is a racist.

The asshole CALLING him a racist, of course, could not possibly have anything to do with it. I guess now it is a racist conspiracy, seeing as there where multiple officers involved.

You act like a douchebag to cops and refuse to cooperate, you get arrested. This probably happens all the time, except that it isn't typically ultra liberal black "eminent" professors, so nobody cares.

[garbon]

That picture must be doctored, because the eminent professor, who we know would never ever lie, said he was sick and could not possibly yell at anyone.

I wonder if his illness presented him from opening his mouth.

[DontSayBanana]

I wonder if his illness presented him from opening his mouth.

That would have been helpful, if not to the sensationalist news community.

[grumbler]

When did that happen?

Just before the arrest, from what I have read.

My background assumption is that the City of Cambridge has minimum professional requirements for its police officers, provides basic training in dealing with civilians, and requires some level of experience and skill before promoting officers.  Based on those reasonable assumptions, I therefore presume that a police sergeant would ordinarily be capable of handling garden variety situation like this involving a 60 year old man using pretty tame language by say network television standards (not Fox), without completely losing it and making an obviously improper and baseless arrest, and then compounding that error by cuffing him and subjecting him to hours of detention.

Can you link me to a transcript of what the professor said.  Obviously, you must have read it to judge the language used, and I'd like to do the same.

On that reasoning, the only way something like this could happen, barring some kind of mental breakdown by the officer, or glitch in the Cambridge personnel system that allowed a complete incompetent to be promoted to sergeant, is that something else is going on here.  And the only something else that comes to mind is race.

Oh, I agree that the professor had a racist agenda.  Even his own testemony acknowledges that.  Whether the cop had one as well depends on what the transcript you are going to link us to shows.

[Sophie Scholl]

One time when it's fun to see Berkut and Grumbler in action.

[grumbler]

Hell, he could have intentionally escalated the issue hoping the cop would fall into his trap... knowing full well the kind of firestorm he could generate.

Sounds like that to me, as well (as I noted above).

[Admiral Yi]

How many signatures do you need to get on the Detroit ballot, 2?