It seems that people on this thread are accusing the Officer of escalating the situation by arresting the childish foul mouthed race baiter Gates.
If Gates had been cordial and answered the Officer's questions in a civilized manner, while understanding that the Officer was there to investigate a possible criminal activity, we would not be having this conversation.
Gates is one of those people who thinks the world revolves around him and the world owes him a living. In other words, a typical Obama supporter.
Yes, and he was right to do so! It is good to be polite but one of the key reasons that it is not a good idea to argue is that the cop has total power and it is best not to get him mad. For the same reason, I kiss ass when the IRS comes around to audit my taxes because they have arbitrary power to punish me even more if I get too uppity. Is that a good thing? I thought that Americans were independent and were free to assert their constitutional rights against authority. It seems that we have adopted the European model that citizens should always should always sshow "deference" to their betters.