Black Harvard Professor arrested after breaking into his own home?

I think even the arresting officer expected that.

 

professor ogeltree's statement on behalf of professor gates is here.

 

What an idiot. Pulling the "do you know who I am card"

Way to go on getting the charges gone.To bad you still acted like an idiot in front of your neighbors and spent 4 hours in the tank.

Also people being mad at the woman are silly. If someone is forcing their way into a house you call the cops. And it was night, it is pretty hard to see a face from a distance at night.

 

Well, Gates doing that isn't a crime. The officer should be disciplined.

 

Whatever sounds like another ego trippin cop. Jeez you guys should try acting civilized and nice sometimes maybe people wouldn't hate cops so much. I understand that most of them were dbags in highschool and their life was probably hell at one point but they don't need to take it out on everyone when they put their uniform on.

 

interesting....so we have 2 conflicting versions. i guess the only way to resolve it would be thru actually dashboard cam or other witnesses.

 

The cop should have provided his name and badge number. Why wouldn't he do this? Arresting the guy might have been a little overboard, but refusing to give his name seems worse to me. As for Gates, I can understand being initially confused as to why the cop was there and being less than cooperative at first. The cop being an a-hole probably made the conversation go south from there. But still, I wonder if he realizes that calling someone a racist is very offensive. He certainly wasn't helping things.

 

Facts of interest if his statement is correct:

1) The driver was outside trying to force the door open while Gates was inside trying to do the same

This means that an unfamiliar car and face were observed attempting to force the door open. From this I can conclude that I would not mind having that nosy neighbor living next door to me and she took the proper course of action.

 

so he deserved to be arrested for that?

 

As I said I don't think the officer is lying and agree with the facts of the case. That said the officer could've diffused this situation too. I brought this up in the thread about the 72 year old woman getting tazed. People shouldn't disrespects cops but at the same time cops shouldn't be caught up in enforcing their authority. Berating a cop is disrespectful but not a crime and the officer should've just left as soon as Gates proved he who he was. Yes, Gates should've shut up but in the end both parties had a responsibility to diffuse the situation.

I'm not surprised charges were dismissed but IMO the situation should've never escalated.

 

I agree with the first point (black and white person doing the same thing).


I guess "live with it" wasn't the best phrase. What I meant was that no matter how hard we try to eliminate "racism" it will always exist because a system of racial classification exists (and is actively enforced). Since this system is still in place.....these kinds of incidents will continue to happen.

 

How could she tell it was two black men then if visibility was so poor? Also even if she can't see the face Gates is rather short and using a cane. If she knew Gates well shouldn't she have a taken a second look?

If I see someone resembling my neighbor in height, build in hair color appearing to break into his own house I'm at least going to call my neighbor to verify the situation rather than call 9/11.

 

Apparently my post was overlooked.

The facts point to a stranger in a strange car trying to force the door open from outside while Gates was inside trying to do the same (having walked around and let himself in through the back door). Therefore the neighbor is watching a stranger, who arrived in an unknown vehicle, forcing the door of a house open from the outside.

Unless she has X-ray vision (and night vision) she had no way of knowing that Gates was there until after the police arrived and no amount of second and third looks would have modified that situation.

 

I thought it was a campus ID. I don't know what kind of info that provides; skeptical it's more than just office number, and it's worth noting that students et al break into rooms and steal things all the time. Also worth considering that there was some dorm shooting at Harvard a few months ago, so I don't know what kind of security protocols the cops have in place now.

The few times I was asked for ID by the U of H police, the first thing I offered was if they wanted to see my campus ID or my driver's license. Granted my driver's license had the address of my dad's home in Seabrook, so if I was caught jacking into my Cougar Place penthouse, then game over.

 

A couple things about Ogletree's account that doesn't make sense. It acts like everything was amicable all the way through Gates presenting his ID. If this is true and the officer was on his way out, why would Gates ask him for his ID? Also, if it was amicable, why would the officer not comply? The only reason the officer would give him a hard time would be due to a dispute. A dispute could have been instigated by either of them, but Gates doesn't say anything about one - that makes me think he is leaving out facts that suit his story.

Also, the police officers from Cambridge probably don't have much to worry about, but there would have to be some type of escalation for them to make an arrest. Even a bad cop wouldn't arrest someone after thanking him for "accommodating my earlier request". Again, the escalation could be caused by either party, but Gates doesn't mention it for some reason.

Two other pertinent facts about the incident:
1) Gates is a far cry from someone that might be racially profiled negatively. The guy looks like a distinguished Harvard professor, not a burglar. I know profiling occurs all the time, but I have great difficulty believing any officer would harass Gates on these grounds. If anything, based on his appearance, I would profile him as an arrogant rich guy.
2) Gates is probably a prima dona, just like many tenured professors I have met, and probably ALL Harvard professors. Case in point - Harvard is fixing the guy's door for him. When was the last time you had a home repair and you called the company that signs your paycheck to fix it? That guy is used to people kissing his arse.

 

As far as I can tell, Ogletree wasn't there?

If that is correct, his account of events is pretty much hearsay. I mean, we know that Gates and the cop both have biased and conflicting stories, but at least both men were there and at least one of them (probably both) knows that they are embellishing and distorting the true events.

 

i don't know what experiences you've had with african american professors, but ogletree released the statement as a lawyer on behalf of his client. so its not 'hearsay' so much as providing gates' account of what happened.

 

That's Gates account from his Lawyer - that could have entirely been made up by them.

The officer's account doesn't mention further questioning.

 

????

Probably about the same as with white professors? My experiences more break down along subject of study.