A big news story today is President Obama backtracking on his statement that a Cambridge MA police Sergeant James Crowley “acted stupidly” in arresting Dr. Henry Louis Gates, an African-American professor at Harvard University. I’m hardly an Obama apologist, so the question is, did Obama speak out of line or did the police act stupidly?
In a word, yes, the police acted stupidly. In fact, “stupid” may be an understatement in this case, even based upon Crowley’s own report.
Dr. Gates was gaining entrance into his own home, when a neighbor called police to report suspicious persons on his property. Obviously, it is not a crime to get into your own home, no matter how you choose to do so. In this case he was going through the front door, but the door got stuck so he had to push on it with his shoulder.
Crowley showed up and wanted to know who he was, and Gates said he lives there and showed his Harvard identification. Gates was inside his own home for most of the conversation with Crowley, and on his own property at all times.
Since Dr. Gates was in his own home, and since he had committed no crime and in fact no crime had even occurred, if he wanted to voice his opinion about the situation, he had every right to do so. Crowley already established that Dr. Gates lived at that home, and that he was who he said he was, so he should have just gone out to his squad car and written his report, thus completely defusing the situation.
Instead, Crowley lured Dr. Gates outside under the ruse that he couldn’t get good reception due to acoustics inside the home.
You have GOT to be kidding me. Are we supposed to actually believe that tripe?
At any rate, when Crowley told Gates to talk to him outside, Gates responded, “yeah, I’ll speak to your mama outside”. LOL
That might have pissed off the cop, admittedly, but it is still not a crime.
Even if the neighbors didn’t like Dr. Gates’ behavior outside as the cop alleges, he didn’t hit anyone, and he didn’t even use profanity. He simply voiced his opinion that Crowley is a racist, that he will take the matter up with the legal system, and that the kind of harassment he was experiencing at that moment is what happens to black men in America. Dr. Gates is absolutely entitled to voice that opinion under the First Amendment, especially on his own property, whether anyone else agrees with it or not.
I’m a white woman in America, and I doubt a cop would arrest a white person for the exact same behavior, or even worse, under those circumstances. I therefore suspect Crowley got upset mostly because he knew that what Dr. Gates was saying about him is true.
I therefore fail to see where Dr. Gates did anything to trigger an arrest. Apparently prosecutors agree, since they dropped charges immediately.
So yes, Sergeant James Crowley acted stupidly, and I’ll go a step further and say he should be fired. He arrested a man for “disorderly conduct” when all the man did was exercise his First Amendment rights on his own property. That is not a crime. Even the police report clearly seems to be covering Crowley’s rear end.
Is this what America has turned into, where citizens can be arrested for exercising their First Amendment rights on their own property?
Read the police report for yourself on The Smoking Gun.
Sounds like a case of arrogance meets arrogance. Two egotistical men clashing heads. This situation spun way out of control… I would like to know what caused Mr. Gates to feel the officer was racist; was it his words, his tone, his demeanor, or was Mr. Gates a victim of once bitten, twice shy, from having been profiled in the past.
I have had the displeasure of having to deal with racist policemen, and it is always the tone and unnecessary remarks; nothing major that could hold up in court, that showed racism. My daughter, a 19 year old black female, 5′1, 100 pounds, called the police because someone she knew (another female) attacked her. She gave the dispatcher a description of the female, who was the same age and about the same size as my daughter. Once the police arrived the attacker was gone; however my daughter was arrested for not being able to produce an ID quickly enough; even though she, herself, called the police. She told the policeman that her ID was inside of the residence in her room; however he felt that she might be going into the house to retrieve a weapon. He told her she would be arrested because she could not prove her identity, and could very well be the suspect and not the victim – so when she turned to go back into the house to retrieve the ID, he yelled very loud, STOP, DON’T MOVE, DON’t MOVE. She was charged with obstruction of justice for attempting to go into her own house to retrieve the ID. It was a case of catch 22; damn if you do, damn if you don’t. Once handcuffed, she was so angry about the situation that she called the policeman a racist and ignorant. For that she was also charged with disorderly conduct. The policeman lied in court, saying she was disorderly from the time he responded and the judge didn’t want to hear her side of the story – believing the policeman, thus she was found guilty. I doubt this would have ever happened to a white girl, 19 years old, 100 pounds. What do you think?
In college my roommate, friend and I (3 young white females) were mistaken for 2 males. An off-duty policeman in a clunker car began chasing us across a lawn without identifying himself. He was in the process of arresting us when our dorm director intervened. It seems that we were admitting guilt because someone in a beat up car started driving on the lawn and chasing us. We were supposedly guilty of resisting arrest.
How incredibly traumatic for you! That sounds like yet another cop who should have been fired on the spot. It just never fails to amaze me how stupid some cops are, yet still are allowed to remain on the job thanks to the machinations of the Fraternal Order of Police.
You cannot be guilty of resisting arrest if you didn’t even know he was a cop, and when he didn’t have probable cause to arrest you anyway. Running from some trashy rabid idiot driving a clunker who is chasing you is not a crime, after all. It’s actually smart to run, because you didn’t know who he was or why he was chasing you. For all you knew, he was a violent criminal and you were his intended victim.
No one has any reason whatsoever to assume that someone in a beat-up old car, not even in uniform, is a cop even if they claim to be a cop. In fact, making that assumption can be a potentially deadly mistake, since there are lots of criminals who victimize females by pretending to be cops. So my question is, are you sure he even was a real cop?
I think you are right, and that it wouldn’t have happened to a young skinny white girl.
When I was in college I was locked out of the house. Had to open the door with a card. The police came by. Stopped and helped me in. My Id didn’t have my correct address and no roommates were around to verify I lived there. Nothing happened other than a suggestion we should leave a spare key in the back because the dog would prevent anyone from getting in.
You know, there are several issues involved here. I’ve no doubt that legally, your view of the situation is the correct one. To arrest an important man on such flimsy charges was a little stupid.
On the other hand, I think there’s plenty of stupidity to go around in this case. To yell and scream and threaten a police officer who has responded to a well-meaning neighbor’s call for the purpose of protecting you and your property–is that smart or helpful? To continue yelling and threatening outside the house, in front of multiple witnesses, several of them other police officers, is that intelligent?
As a householder, didn’t Officer Crowley do exactly what you would want him to do if someone called to report your home being invaded? Knock on the door, and demand ID from the person who answered?
Then, there’s President Obama’s comment on the case. Was it smart for the president of the United States to suggest that the police acted stupidly and the person yelling at the cops and threatening them was in the right? Even if he was in the right, surely we don’t want our police to be so cowed as that! How can they possibly do their job of protecting us if we are encouraged to yell at them, threaten them, be uncooperative?
Reading the police report, I really don’t see that the officer did anything wrong, up to actually arresting the professor, which he shouldn’t have done, if the professor left him any choice. I haven’t heard any supporting testimony by witnesses yet, for either side. Just a brief comment about a lot of yelling going on.
It will be very interesting to hear the eye-witness accounts of this.
The worst of this, though, is that it’s such a trivial, stupid thing to be occupying the attention of the president, the press, the whole country. Just a silly mistake, and by well-intentioned people at that.
Hiya, Kari! It’s not smart to react that way, but it’s not illegal either. Furthermore, based on the other side of the story from the professor, the cop’s side is not exactly correct, in that he did show his drivers license and therefore clearly resided there, which should have ended the investigation immediately. The cop should have been out of there immediately, since assumably he has real crimes to solve.
I also saw that this particular cop teaches racial profiling. In other words, he teaches other cops how to not get caught profiling suspects based upon race. At the same time, the man who was arrested is a Harvard professor, well aware of the racist propensity of cops since he teaches African-American Studies, so he poses no danger to anyone but is extremely likely to call this cop out on his behavior. That cop just finally met his match, and was definitely faced with someone whose intelligence and knowledge of the subject matter this cop cannot even begin to fathom. To the cop, the professor was acting “uppity” by daring to challenge his authority by mouthing off. Yet he isn’t even smart enough to realize that it wa all protected speech. I suspect the cop hasn’t heard the end of it either, since it appears the professor plans to sue. Though I’m not big on lawsuits, I encourage one in this case because it may eventually establish guidelines for similar situation in the future.
I have to respectfully disagree that it was all just a silly mistake and should not have been brought to widespread attention, though. By arresting that professor on such trumped-up charges, the cop was “putting him in his place”. That cop knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew the charges would never stand up in court but he did it anyway. The arrest was just pure harassment, and actions of that nature should always be brought to light so we can deal with them as a society, with an eye toward correcting the underlying problems.
I find it hard to take any opinion seriously whose author uses “LOL.” You sound like an idiot.
Wow, that is one of the most stunningly stupid comments in the history of this blog. LOLOLOLOLOLOL
This is a BLOG, not the New York Times. I don’t care about your opinion of me, and I have no idea why you would ever think yourself so important that I should care.
The truth is, you engaged in an ad hominem attack against me only because you disagree with me, but aren’t smart enough to formulate a reasonable counter argument. How lame.
Cordieb, your daughter’s experience sounds like it was very similar to Prof. Gate’s. I’ve no doubt there are a good many racist police, and that these things happen not infrequently.
It does surprise me, though, that it happened to a petite teen-ager. Was she living in a particularly dangerous neighborhood?
I must confess to you that, at my workplace, I am guilty of a certain amount of prejudice and profiling. I have been robbed by 4 different men, each one was black. As a consequence, I am less likely to just buzz a black man into my hotel, and more likely to require him to give me his ID first. Race is not my only criteria, nor even the most important. Mostly I go by dress and hygiene, because the people who can afford to stay here normally are well-dressed and well-groomed. Still, it is a fact that on the job, I am a little prejudiced…
@Kari. Perhaps I’m a little prejudiced, but I’m working on
it. Check out the article I wrote some time ago. What surprised me is that there are some individuals who don’t see color, at all. I found that very enlightening.
http://cordieb.wordpress.com/2008/10/08/ok-perhaps-im-prejustice-about-some-things-but-im-working-on-it/