Reply #48: I think that too many are not walking through the

[whistler162]

decision tree.

Take the arrest, there where two possible out comes. The first one, the obvious one, and the one that happened was that everyone gets ticked off because of the arreat of a Harvard professor. The second, maybe unlikely but possible, out come was upon being placed under arrest and taken far enough away from the house Professor Gates could finally safely inform the Police that he was being held at knife/gun point by a home invader, second man, and had provoked the situation to be arrested.

This also brings us to the what if... had the officer not responded as he did and Professor Gates was being held hostage or underduress and Profesor Gates was killed or injured. What would the commotion be like then.

Once the possible burglary was reported the officer needed to find out several things. Was there a break in and who each of the men seen entering the house where and their relationship to the homeowner/renter.