Posted on 07/27/2009 8:37:13 AM PDT by COUNTrecount
The woman, identified in a police report on file in Cambridge District Court as 40-year-old Lucia Whalen, saw the backs of both men and did not know their race when she called 911, said Wendy J. Murphy, a Boston lawyer from New England School of Law. Whalen phoned police, Murphy said, because she was aware of recent break-ins in the area.
In an interview last night, Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert C. Haas said it was ac curate that Whalen did not mention race in her 911 call. He acknowledged that a police report of the incident did include a race reference. The report says Whalen observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the front porch of a Ware Street home on July 16.
That reference is there, said Haas, because the police report is a summary. Its descriptions - like the race of the two men - were collected during the inquiry, not necessarily from the initial 911 call, he said.
The events of July 16 - when Gates was arrested at his home for disorderly conduct by Police Sergeant James Crowley, who responded to the 911 call - remain a matter of discussion, even as both sides seek to put the issue to rest. Tapes made during the incident may illuminate some of what happened.
Hass said yesterday that he expects some version of the tapes to be released in the next few days.
Race has become the central concern in what began as a report of a possible break-in. Whalen, walking from her office nearby, grew suspicious when she saw two men trying to force open the door of the home, according to the report.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
Two possibilities here.
1. She’s lying. (No reason to believe she is)
2. Media malpractice.
Presser coming up.
And from the list of attendees, it’s not so good for Gates and his pal, Obambi.
I'll take curtain # 2.
She has olive-colored skin.
Maybe we should examine the assumptions behind statements made in the media. The assumption here is that one’s racism is in direct proportion to the lightness of one’s skin.
And that assumption proves my point. Liberalism is a mental illness.
I haven’t forgotten Jessica Lynch.
Injured and captured in Iraq.
The media goes with a story of a valiant rescue in the midst of a fierce firefight that turns out to be untrue.
The media goes rabid over the fact that CENTCOM lied and later backs down because they couldn’t produce evidence that CENTCOM had ever said any such thing.
What if she had "cited race"? If she saw two black men and said so, that would have been a description, not a value judgment.
Those 911 tapes make it pretty hard to lie about a call.
The tapes haven’t been released but the authorities have confirmed she’s telling the truth.
She said possibly hispanic on the tape.
So I go for both #1 and #2.
The transcript is out. She clearly says she doesn't know what's happening but the two men pushed their way into the house. She says there are suitcases on the porch and she doesn't know what that means. Only when pressed did she say one of the men might be hispanic.
This wasn't a racially motivated call at all, just someone concerned in a neighborhood where there have been break-ins.
Oh, and she wasn't a neighbor, but someone who worked nearby.
ok you’re right. THank you.
She only said ‘one was perhaps hispanic don’t know about the other one’ in response to a question ‘white, black or hispanic’
She said there were TWO SUITCASES on the front step.
The media was making a big deal by saying ‘two backpacks’.
She made a big deal about saying she wasn’t sure if it was a break in or if they lived there - just that they appeared to have forced the door - but she wasn’t sure !!!
They are going to have to find someone else to pursue on ‘rascist’ charges.
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