The police officer who arrested a Harvard professor for disorderly conduct said Thursday he wants President Obama, who is the educator’s friend, to butt out of the incident.
……A police report of the incident written by Officer Carlos Figueroa, who responded to the call with Crowley, says Crowley was already in the house when he walked in. The report says Crowley had asked Gates for some identification and Gates shouted that he would not give any information and called the sergeant a racist.
According to the report, Gates then yelled, “This is what happens to black men in America.” When Crowley tried to calm him down, Gates shouted, “You don’t know who you’re messing with.”The report continues that the shouting went on after Gates and the officers walked out onto the front porch. When Gates allegedly wouldn’t cooperate or calm down, Crowley arrested him.
……Crowley told the radio station that he asked Gates to step outside because he didn’t know who Gates was, and he was alone and didn’t know if his safety was compromised.
“I had no other motive than to ensure my safety, or he could’ve been the homeowner who was unaware that there were people in his house unauthorized. I just didn’t know,” Crowley said.
……Crowley told the Boston Herald that he is not a racist, and at age 27 gave CPR to a dying Reggie Lewis, the Boston Celtics star who had a fatal heart attack in 1993 during a practice game at Brandeis University, where Crowley was a campus police officer at the time.
“I wasn’t working on Reggie Lewis the basketball star. I wasn’t working on a black man. I was working on another human being,” Crowley told the Herald.
……The charge against Gates was dropped on Tuesday. The police department issued a statement saying the incident “was regrettable and unfortunate” and should not “be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of Professor Gates or the character of the Cambridge Police Department.”
Crowley, however, has refused to apologize, and he told the radio station he did nothing wrong. He added he was surprised that a man as educated as Gates would start yelling epithets about Crowley’s mom, part of the incident that never made it into the police report.
“That apology will never come. It won’t come from me as Jim Crowley. It won’t come from me as a sergeant in the police department,” Crowley told WEEI.
“I know what I did was right. I have nothing to apologize for,” he added.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/23/police-officer-obama-butt-arrest/
Zero does his bit for race relations:
A white police sergeant accused of racism after he arrested renowned black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home insisted Wednesday he won’t apologize for his treatment of the Harvard professor, but President Barack Obama said police had acted “stupidly”.
Speaking of “stupidly”:
……Obama was asked about Gates’ arrest at the end of a nationally televised news conference on health care Wednesday night and began his response by saying Gates was a friend and he didn’t have all the facts.
……what I think we know separate and apart from this incident — is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that’s just a fact.”
You know what else is a fact, Obama? Assholes with a racial chip on their shoulders.
……Crowley said he’s grateful he has the support of his police force. He said he’s not worried about any possible disciplinary action.
“There will be no apology,” he said outside his home Wednesday.
Good for him.
Check out the arrest record:
http://www.foxnews.com/projects/pdf/Gates_Arrest.pdf
The cops are understandably pissed:
Many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama: Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own. Obama’s public criticism that Cambridge officers “acted stupidly” when they arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said Thursday.
It could even set back the progress in race relations that helped Obama become the nation’s first African-American president, they said.
“What we don’t need is public safety officials across the country second-guessing themselves,” said David Holway, president of the International Brotherhood of Police Officers, which represents 15,000 public safety officials around the country. “The president’s alienated public safety officers across the country with his comments.”
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,534687,00.html
Facts? He don’t need no stinkin’ facts. He’s President Punchdrunk, and Gates is a pal of his.
Neal Boortz weighs in:
ATTENTION ALL BURGLERS
…. especially those who live in Cambridge, Mass., the home of Harvard University and, not coincidentally, Professor Henry Louis (You do realize I’m important and black, don’t you?) Gates. Now I really don’t think that it’s cool to make your living breaking into folks houses and stealing their stuff. But, if that’s the way it’s going to be, you might as well choose your targets wisely.
Man … do I have the house for you. The house is on Ware Street in Cambridge, Mass. The owner and presumably sole occupant of the house is none other than esteemed Harvard Professor Henry (“you don’t know who you’re messin’ with) Gates. I can almost promise you that if you decide to burglarize Mr. Gates’ home there isn’t a Cambridge police officer who would respond to the call. You’ll have pretty much a free shot at all of the professor’s stuff until he gets home. At that time you’ll have to endure a screaming tirade about “this is what happens to a black man in America” and that you are a “racist burglar.”
Really, though, you’ll probably be able to get away because you’ll hear Professor Gates coming a mile away. They say he’s somewhat loud.
Now go knock yourselves out!
http://boortz.com/nealz_nuze/2009/07/attention-all-burglars.html
Shouting at police officers is not unlawful, but if actual stupidity were a prosecutable offense, Gates would be charged. He should be grateful that one of his neighbors was concerned enough to call the police for what they thought was a break in. The loud mouthed radical wouldn’t come out of the house, and he refused to show identification. For all Crowley knew, he could have been confronting a hostile burglar, but since Gates decided to jump to the old standby “racist” accusation, there was no way of telling.
Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson will be on hand to make their requisite soapbax comments in 3….2….1…..
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