Police abuse of black scholar, major story

[Fluff and Stuff]

Cops do this kind of thing everyday to people of all skin colors.  Just seems like a bad cop to me but maybe I'm wrong.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090721/ap_on_re_us/us_harvard_scholar_disorderly

Black scholar's arrest raises profiling questions

BOSTON – Police responding to a call about "two black males" breaking into a home near Harvard University ended up arresting the man who lives there — Henry Louis Gates Jr., the nation's pre-eminent black scholar.

Gates had forced his way through the front door because it was jammed, his lawyer said. Colleagues call the arrest last Thursday afternoon a clear case of racial profiling.

Cambridge police say they responded to the well-maintained two-story home after a woman reported seeing "two black males with backpacks on the porch," with one "wedging his shoulder into the door as if he was trying to force entry."

By the time police arrived, Gates was already inside. Police say he refused to come outside to speak with an officer, who told him he was investigating a report of a break-in.

"Why, because I'm a black man in America?" Gates said, according to a police report written by Sgt. James Crowley. The Cambridge police refused to comment on the arrest Monday.

Gates — the director of Harvard's W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research — initially refused to show the officer his identification, but then gave him a Harvard University ID card, according to police.

More here, http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090721/ap_on_re_us/us_harvard_scholar_disorderly

[violence]

cop are criminals

[UOGSammich]

Is it not apparent that there is a total ego issue when a public official such as a police officer refuses to ID himself?

Thats the first thing they ask for in most cases but have such a hard time identifying themselves... love it.

[AntonLee]

I agree with violence (this time) 

[KBCraig]

Yanno, I'm the last person to excuse police abuse, but I do try to be objective when I read such reports.

If this was reported accurately (that's always a good question), then the officer was legitimately responding to a report of someone breaking into a house. He had no idea who the homeowner was, or if he was home. He made contact with the caller right outside the residence, then saw someone matching the general description she had reported (a black male) moving around inside the house.

If the officer's report was accurate and factual, then he had little chance to even explain that he was investigating a reported break-in before being met with hostility and accusations of racism.

I did say "if".

[Lloyd Danforth]

The cop should have stopped when the guy said he lived there and gave proof.  I'm sure some of this was due to 'Do you know who I am?"
He's a pre-eminent Scholar in a worthless course of studies and, in the university, lives in a Rarefied atmosphere where he has status simply for staying around.  At home, he is just a citizen and subject to abuse like the rest of us.
He will claim racism instead of fighting this from the angle of general police abuse.

[ny2nh]

The clipit I read said that the homeowner refused to provide proof that he did indeed live there claiming racial profiling. Should the cop have just accepted his answer that he did and left - perhaps leaving someone who doesn't live in the house there to continue to rob it?

[Sam A. Robrin]

The issue is definitely 100% one of color--not of black or of white, but of blue.

[Lloyd Danforth]

Absolutely!

[Fluff and Stuff]

If this was reported accurately (that's always a good question), then the officer was legitimately responding to a report of someone breaking into a house. He had no idea who the homeowner was, or if he was home. He made contact with the caller right outside the residence, then saw someone matching the general description she had reported (a black male) moving around inside the house.

The report claims the man was already inside.  The cop asked him questions.  The man answered some of the questions.  The cop asked for ID.  The man gave him a form of government ID and his Harvard ID.  The cop arrested the man for being rude, even though the man was sick, used a cane to walk, did most of what the cop asked and was on his own property.

If that is true, it is a complete power trip and the cop should be suspended without pay until the local police lose in court.

[Fluff and Stuff]

The clipit I read said that the homeowner refused to provide proof that he did indeed live there claiming racial profiling. Should the cop have just accepted his answer that he did and left - perhaps leaving someone who doesn't live in the house there to continue to rob it?

The article I posted claimed the man gave the cop a DL, I'm guessing his DL had the current address, although I guess it could have been an old address.  However, if the DL had an old address, the cop would have likely charged him with that.

[Keyser Soce]

The clipit I read said that the homeowner refused to provide proof that he did indeed live there claiming racial profiling. Should the cop have just accepted his answer that he did and left - perhaps leaving someone who doesn't live in the house there to continue to rob it?

"Gates showed his driver's license and Harvard ID — both with his photos — and repeatedly asked for the name and badge number of the officer, who refused."

[KBCraig]

The first article that I read, and the actual police report (which I can't find now) both said that only the Harvard ID was offered at first, and that it doesn't have an address. At that point the officer called the Harvard police to come verify. They also said that every time the officer tried to answer by giving his name, Gates continued to shout over him.

You can read the police report from the link here:

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/harvard.html

[Fluff and Stuff]

I don't trust police reports but maybe it only has a couple mistakes.  Nevertheless, I think at the very least the charges should be dropped and the police department should offer a public apology.

[Fluff and Stuff]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090722/ap_on_re_us/us_harvard_scholar_disorderly

Charge dropped and the cops said sorry.