Black Harvard Professor arrested after breaking into his own home?

Wow, you commented on Obama again? First the D!Obama thread, now this. Dude, let it be. Do you really hate the guy that much?

I think Obama has a right to talk about this, one, because it is a professor from his old college, two because the professor is another smart and well versed black man. Your telling me pointing out racial tension is a bad thing? Should we sweep it under the rug? How about force it to sit in the back of the American news bus?

 

I love how the southern conservatives defer to the power of the state in "certain" cases.

 

Government regulation trumps private property.

 

Go away troll!

If you wanna whine about our President start a new thread. Or are you scurred?

 

Wait, so you would trade liberty for security? If an officer has the ability to enter your domain (sans a warrant) and interogate you are we still in America? I'm sorry, but I would not want to live in a country where the police have the right to do whatever they please as long as they have suspicion on their side. That seems really un-American. No red-blooded true republican would ever support an agenda where the state has THAT much unsupervised power.

 

WTF ever.

 

It truly is amazing how fast wackjob conservatives are willing to forfeit their liberties and rights.

 

I don't make the laws. But I would like the police to come to my house if someone suspected burglary. I don't want to trade liberty for anything, that's what the liberal/socialists do. Now excuse me while I go to a privately owned bar to have a drink and a cigarette.

 

Are there no govt owned bars where you're at?

 

Maybe the cop should just follow the standard procedure? Like asking for IDs and check if there is anyone else in the house?

envied the money? This is the same cop that gave Reggie Lewis mouth to mouth CPR.

 

Not yet, but getting there.

 

So, that kinda invalidates the "if he was white, this wouldn't have happened" hypothetical. You can't make another scenario that is reasonably the same except the color of the citizen's skin. That makes the accusation

But, maybe you can, if this hypothetical white person was a member of some other minority that feels persecuted. Like, "Why, because I'm a Catholic in America?" Or, "Why, because I'm a hippie in America?" Or, "Why, because I'm a meth-head in America?" I can see an altercation like that resulting in an arrest for disorderly conduct.

 

Right, except he was arrested for a reason. If you have a problem with arresting people for public disturbance, that's a completely different issue.

Apparently not in public. Same issue. Is the media questioning whether or not someone can be arrested for public disturbance? I don't know the law, but all signs point to that he was arrested for a reason....even if one doesn't HAVE to be arrested in that situation.

again, are you just completely dismissing the police report? if so, that's fine, just say so. otherwise, no need for an attitude as if it was the cop that escalated the situation. he in no way did. his only "invitation" to Mr. Gates was by saying: I told Mr. Gates I was leaving the residence and that if he had any other questions regarding the matter, I would speak to him outside.

After which, for some unknown reasons, Mr. Gates continued to escalate the situation in as poor a manner as possible, did go outside (yet had no question to ask) and ignored multiple warnings to calm down. He was insulting and rude about it, he resisted arrested and lied about his reason for doing so (apparently he would fall down without his cane...which he didn't seem to do).

i don't usually side with the police so readily in situations like this on threads on this board, but this seems so open and close it's confusing to me how such a big deal has been made. Personally, I like to put myself in the police officer's shoes. which means, at any time, i'd have to be ready for danger, and serious danger. it didn't matter that it was Mr. Gates house, it did matter that he was escalating the situation into one that could be come violent, and when further escalation occurred, in a public area, it needed to be controlled. it doesn't appear that Mr. gates was ever searched for a weapon...but it does appear that he was acting crazily. is it all that improbably that he could have had a gun hidden in his pocket, and turned it on himself, or the cop, or a neighbor (maybe the one who reported the call)? then you;d be arguing the police officer wasn't vigilant enough.

Again, go back and read the police report. The officer is put on the defensive by Gates idiotic behavior from the get go. He doesn't get photo confirmation that Gates is who he is until Gates has been extremely confrontational, tried to do something with some police connection, threatened the officer ("you have no idea who you're messing with" - again, keep in mind, the officer doesn't know who he is messing with at this point, which if I'm a police officer is scary), refused to provide identification and then only provides a University ID. So the officer still isn't sure it's Gates residence, but goes ahead and radios Harvard police, his control room to report what's happened and gets ready to leave. At which point Gates, apparently, asks the officer a question, prompting him to stay. The Harvard police shows up and the whole exchange on the front porch.

So, once again, if you don't believe the police report (and the 2nd report and the eye witnesses), that's fine.

Otherwise, I don't understand the big brew-ha going on??

That's fine. Perhaps he could have left without an arrest. In this case, he chose the arrest route. It happens, too. Considering the lunatic behavior of Mr. Gates (and inability to know where it would escalate to), it's hard to fault the arrest...

 

this is sooooooooo stupid. first seven minutes of the national news

 

This has legs.

 

Folks this is real!

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_harva...jA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNjb3B3aG9hcnJlc3Q-

 

Our pigheaded march to becoming part of the developing world? Agree.

 

I can't believe Obama referred to the officers as 'acting stupidly' -- not knowing all the facts this really puts him in a bad position and gives his rivals an excellent talking point.

 

Apparently, there is a police radio recording of Gates yelling like a wildman -- something Gates denied doing.

Does this look like a man who is complying with law enforcement? Uh, no.



Yeah, it's pretty obvious who is telling the truth here, and it ain't Gates. Obama should have kept his mouth shut.