Black Harvard Professor arrested after breaking into his own home?

did the audio of gates come out yet? or was t-j just making crap up about there being an audio of gates at the arrest?

this cop is supposed to be one of the better ones on the force and he trains people how to not profile suspects so i am curious how the audio makes him look.

 

Okay, so that's basically just your opinion. The way you worded it earlier made it seem like you were objectively stating that charges dropped=wrongful arrest.

 

Again, I can't believe how many people are so against Gates on this. If a white ivy league professor who needs a cane to get around is in his home, and is upset with the police for bothering him in his home, yells at the cop, I don't think the outcry and complaints of the person acting like a jerk would be near as loud, and I don't believe he would have been arrested.

I think a lot of people would have been on the guy's side. There would be a lot more people thinking no wonder this hard working home owner is upset.

Furthermore, if it had been a friend of Bush, and Bush said it's an outrage that an upstanding citizen should be treated like that, the outcry wouldn't be so loud either.

 

I disagree. On a he-said, she-said case of disorderly conduct either in his home or on his property, I doubt there are that many prosecutors who would pursue it unless the defendant was indigent and had a public defender.

 

No, I am saying that in this instance, with this set of circumstances, it would appear to be a wrongful arrest.

 

911, police tapes key in Gates case
Officials mull release of recorded evidence
http://www.bostonherald.com/news/regional/view.bg?articleid=1186764

 

And I can't believe people are defending Gates. Did you not see the thread in the Hangout of the 72-year-old WHITE grandmother who was tazed? The strong majority in the thread said she was an idiot.

I agree with Ottomaton. Obviously, as Gates said to the police officer, "do you know who I am" implies he has some political advantage. If this was a regular joe black person, it might've hit the headlines but Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson wouldn't have mobilized the sheeple. Nor would Obama have commented on it.

 

so does the cops position in the police force even matter to you? it means nothing to you that he helps officers learn how to not profile?

and i think your point about race would be better if you wouldn't just rip the officer and maybe rip the caller since she is the one who identified an old black man as a person who was breaking into a house in the middle of the day. i'm pretty sure that if it was an old white man and his white driver trying to get into the house then there would have been no call to the cops in the first place. not saying the caller was a hardened racist but people tend to stereotype.

 

Gates supporters have spun Crowley's racial profiling position into knowing how to push Gates' buttons. I don't agree with it, but I can see how it is possible.

Hopefully, the radio recordings are released to show who is justified.

 

I didn't just rip the police officer. I was talking about a lot of the people out there who are coming down so hard on Gates(though he may not have handled the situation in the best way), as well as the caller. I'm happy the officer teaches how not to profile, and it may have been that some of the anger directed at the officer from Gates was a result of his experiences having been profiled in the past.

Regardless, it was a bonehead move to arrest Gates for disorderly conduct after questioning the man in his own home, and not giving him the name and badge number.

I agree with you that stereotyping does happen, and that's part of the problem here. I don't think it's a case of anyone involved hating or wanting harm to come to any black person because they are black.

 

I retracted and apologized to LP about that question before you even jumped in.

 

i don't really understand that line of thinking at all. that line of thinking would just be from someone trying to create their own reality and wanting to believe the cop had to be the one abusing his power. also, you wouldn't have to be an expert at teaching people to control their biases to know how to push people's buttons. i know this isn't your point of view but i am bored and wanted to say something about it.

 

Yes I read about the Grandmother. The circumstances seem different. She wasn't in her own home being accused of having broken in. She didn't ask for the cops name and badge number but was refused. Also, while received some minor attention here on this bbs, it didn't receive the national attention and outcry the Gates story has.

I don't know how right or wrong Gates was. It sounds like he definitely did not handle it the best possible way. He might have been a total ass, but that isn't a crime. And it seems reasonable that he would be upset with the officer. How upset or how he handled that anger are the only things that would bring question on his behavior.

The "Do you know who I am?" card is a horrible one to play, unless it was said in the context of him trying to explain that who he is, is the home owner, and not trying to impress a power position upon the officer.

 

i agree 100% that the difficulties gates has had in his life with being a black american were directly related to his outburst with the cop. i know i wouldn't have blown up but i am a white guy who has never been stereotyped as a threat because of my skin color and appearance. if i were in his situation i might have blown up.

also...we don't know for sure if the officer had given his name and badge number or not. the cop said he did but gates' side said he didn't. the only thing that could verify this is some sort of audio or other witness. i think it is wrong to immediately dismiss the officers account in the arrest report.

 

No need for apologies, I just didn't want to derail the thread.

 

I think the tazing of the grandmother is a bad comparison. One, she was in public and not in/on her own private property. Two, she was causing a danger to herself, the officer, and the public. I don't think those same two things can be said about Gates.

 

why was the lady pulled over again?

 

I think the use of the disordly conduct crap sucks.

They used the same thing to trespass and steal private property when a guy had his flag upside down.

http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/50476222.html

 

Also I talked to a firend of mine who is a cop and he confirmed to me that most of their training is conflict resolution and they do sometimes ask off the wall questions just to see if you comply.

It is a common tactic used in anger managment to get a sense of the state of mind of a person.

 

if the person has proven he owns the residence and at the time has not broken any law, why would the cop still need to see if the person complies/in a correct state of mind?