Posted on 07/21/2009 8:02:38 AM PDT by FromLori
Henry Louis Gates Jr, America's most famous black scholar, has accused local police of racism after he was arrested while trying to break into his own home near Harvard University.
According to a police report, officers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were called to the house on Thursday afternoon after a woman said she had seen a man "wedging his shoulder into the front door as to pry the door open".
According to police, an officer ordered the man to identify himself and Prof Gates refused.
He allegedly began calling the officer a racist, repeatedly saying: "This is what happens to black men in America." Officers said they tried to calm down the 58-year-old academic only for him to tell them: "You don't know who you're messing with." Prof Gates, who was named as one of the 25 most influential Americans by Time magazine in 1997, was arrested on a disorderly conduct charge after police said he "exhibited loud and tumultuous behaviour". He was released later that day and is due to appear in court next month. He is the director of Harvard University's WEB du Bois Institute for African and African American Research.
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I am sure that Bill O’Rieley and the other FR haters love this kind of stuff and wish you would keep it up.
>>>Gates said he did present his photo ID and the cop still arrested him in his own home!. If that is true, it is no wonder he is screaming racism. I would too if I was in his situation.<<<
According to the police report, Gates was arrested because he came outside and continued to yell at the officer, despite repeated warnings that he would be arrested if he did not quiet down.
I think you're the one with the problem. The man was in his own home. The police came to his door and demanded that he identify himself. Apparently he eventually did, even though there is probably no legal requirement for him to have done so, but they arrested him anyway. I wonder how you would feel if the police came to you house and confronted you in an accusatory manner.
ML/NJ
You are either deliberately trying to provoke an argument or are incapable of rational thought. You accuse me of being one sided when I try to look at the facts then say I should assume everyone in this case is a total liar except for Gates and that he is telling the absolute 100% truth. You believe that Gates did absolutely nothing to provoke this and he was singled out only because he was black and that all the white people were racists.
Of course he is a black liberal or he wouldnt have this job. There is an easy solution, the next time the neighbors see someone braking into his house, just close the blinds and watch tv.
Yes, police sometimes lie. But not normally.
I think the following article gives us a pretty good picture of what happened. It basically states that Gates was uncooperative with the police, displayed an attitude, followed the officer outside as the officer was leaving, etc.
I’m sorry, but if you display that kind of attitude toward the police, you’re GOING to get arrested. I don’t care WHAT color you are.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32010985/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/?GT1=43001
Note I’m not saying things were necessarily handled properly on the police side. Gates claims to have asked for the officer’s name and badge number and that that request was refused.
But I don’t see any dispute of Gates’ actual behavior. And you don’t act like Gates did unless you want to be arrested.
The question isn’t whether Gates acted like an ass; the larger problem here is that the cop didn’t know when he was being manipulated and walk away.
I’m sorry, but if you display that kind of attitude toward the police, you’re GOING to get arrested. I don’t care WHAT color you are.
Yes, if you display that kind of attitude towards the police, you ARE going to be arrested, no matter what color you are. However, you SHOULD NOT be arrested simply for displaying a bad attitude towards the police, no matter what color you are.
I think the real story here has nothing to do with race or racism, and everything to do with disorderly conduct statutes that are written so vaguely and enforced so haphazardly that you can be arrested simply for pissing off the wrong cop on the wrong day. I think that if the First Amendment means anything, it means that you ought to be able to criticize a government agent (police or otherwise) without fear of arrest, regardless of how obnoxious you are or how wrongheaded your criticism is.
Are you saying that someone who presumes to argue with the police in his own home wants "to be arrested?" I thought that is America, not the Soviet Union. Here is Gates' version of events:
Professor Gates informed the officer that he lived there and was a faculty member at Harvard University. The officer then asked Professor Gates whether he could prove that he lived there and taught at Harvard. Professor Gates said that he could, and turned to walk into his kitchen, where he had left his wallet. The officer followed him. Professor Gates handed both his Harvard University identification and his valid Massachusetts driver’s license to the officer. Both include Professor Gates’ photograph, and the license includes his address.Professor Gates then asked the police officer if he would give him his name and his badge number. He made this request several times. The officer did not produce any identification nor did he respond to Professor Gates’ request for this information. After an additional request by Professor Gates for the officer’s name and badge number, the officer then turned and left the kitchen of Professor Gates’ home without ever acknowledging who he was or if there were charges against Professor Gates. As Professor Gates followed the officer to his own front door, he was astonished to see several police officers gathered on his front porch. Professor Gates asked the officer’s colleagues for his name and badge number. As Professor Gates stepped onto his front porch, the officer who had been inside and who had examined his identification, said to him, “Thank you for accommodating my earlier request,” and then placed Professor Gates under arrest. He was handcuffed on his own front porch.
Professor Gates was taken to the Cambridge Police Station where he remained for approximately 4 hours before being released that evening. Professor Gates’ counsel has been cooperating with the Middlesex District Attorneys Office, and the City of Cambridge, and is hopeful that this matter will be resolved promptly. Professor Gates will not be making any other statements concerning this matter at this time.
Well said! Finally, a good-old fashioned consrvative who questions authority. The issue is not race but the fact that we have increasingly out of control government (in this case law enforcement).
Please not that "it" is the police version of events. I posted Gates quite different version in a previous thread. Let's assume you are right, however. What are you saying? That a free American citizen deserves to be arrested for arguing with a government official in is own home!? We diagree. I want a society where the police act can't like Cossacks who can't be questioned or challenged.
That’s “don’t act like Cossacks.”
Well, the charges have been dropped. But,,,
“Last week, a witness, 40-year-old Lucia Whalen of Malden, had alerted the cops that a man was wedging his shoulder into the front door at Gates’ house as to pry the door open, police reported.
A law enforcement source said Gates apparently had locked himself out. When Sgt. James Crowley arrived, he said Gates already was inside. But when he was asked to provide identification, Gates allegedly snapped, “No, I will not,” according to a police report.
Police said Gates’ front-porch tirade about racism alarmed passers-by drawn to the uproar outside his Cambridge home.
As Crowley tried to question him, police said Gates bellowed, “This is what happens to black men in America!”
Crowley claimed in his report he tried to calm Gates, but wrote that Gates shouted, “You don’t know who your (sic) messing with!”
After calling Crowley a racist, according to police reports, the professor was charged with disorderly conduct and released for a $40 fee.”
I suppose the cop could have just continued to walk away and that would have caused Gates to eventually shut up and stop disturbing the peace. I imagine all the “You don’t know who you are messing with!” talk made him less inclined to cut him that break. I’m thinking most LEOs hear “You don’t know who you are messing with!” as “Please arrest me, I’m begging you, please arrest me! I really want to go to jail!”
Yeah, I think you are dead right...this was a guy who was looking for trouble and the cop was probably not looking for it, but didn’t mind finding it with this kind of kook...
I got stopped trying to break into my own car years ago. Locked the keys in the car . At the time I had long hair and a was wearing a motorcycle jacket. I couldn’t produce ID because my wallet was in the car too.Finally the cops agreed to open it for me but they wanted to see my ID in a flash or they would arrest me. Hey , when a cop says stop , you stop , when they say identify yourself , you do it ..PERIOD
That may be ... but not in this case.
The man was in his own home.
No, he was not. He was attempting to break in to his own home. If you had read the article, you would know this.
The police attempted to determine whether he had the legal right to break in to that home. Instead of providing it, he became belligerent. He appears to be either an idiot or a troublemaker. Possibly both.
I wonder how you would feel if the police came to you house and confronted you in an accusatory manner.
I wonder how you would feel if the police saw someone breaking in to your home and attempted to determine his identity.
“He is the director of Harvard University’s WEB du Bois Institute for African and African American Research”
That SPLAINS everything..Bye bye ..set up big time!
“The Sgt., along with the gentleman, were now on the porch of __ Ware St. and again he was shouting, now to the onlookers (about seven). “THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO BLACK MEN IN AMERICA”! The gentleman refused to listen as to why the Cambridge police were there. While on the porch, the gentleman refused to be cooperative and continued shouting that the Sgt. is racist police officer.”
If Figueroa's account is accurate, Gates was trying to provoke the gathering crowd of onlookers against the police officers.
At that point, when Gates is trying to incite others against the police, it is appropriate for police to nip that in the bud immediately for the safety of all present.
All it takes is one ACORN-type lowlife on the sidewalk to react to Gates and try to physically confront a police officer for the situation to quickly get out of control, with the potential for serious injury to someone.
Also, several comments at the paper's site say that he's also “gay!” Big bundle of attitude!
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