Huge egos will travel... Bottom line in Cambridge

[wowimthere]

When have we not seen egos get in the way of good judgment? I still think that if you have a man contending that he's in his own home that police should get to the bottom of who this man is and after finding out that the man is in his own home... no matter how verbally belligerent he becomes... you don't arrest him. The officer is doing his job to get to the bottom of who this man is. Police should calm the situation. They should show restraint when it's necessary. The ego tells the professor to scream profiling. The ego tells the officer to arrest the professor even after the professor has shown the id. Ego is one-oneupmanship. The "I'll show you whose boss" mentality.

As for the president... he gave his opinion. He was asked to weigh in... and he did. I think I see this the same way. If you know that a person lives in the house, then arrest him anyway only to turn around and drop the charges then what should that tell anyone?

I believe that officers who have the upper hand should be more judicious, show restraint.


BOTTOM LINE: I don't think you arrest a man who shows that he lives in the house in question. Take a look at what actually happened. The charges against the professor were dropped. For those who don't know what really happened? Dropping the charges against the resident should tell you all you need to know.

[Blue_Roses]

1. The officer is a DICK!

not only did he NOT read Gates his Miranda Rights, he wouldn't give his badge number or name. Now he basically says, go to hell, when it comes to issuing an apology:wtf: He SHOULD have given an apology the minute he realized Gates lived there! He DID act STUPID!

[hughee99]

3. According to the officer (for whatever that's worth)

he was asked for his name and badge number several times, and gave the information, but Gates was too busy yelling at him that he may not have heard.

[Blue_Roses]

5. bullshit...

sorry, but I don't believe this lying jerk. Too much is stacking up against him.

[hughee99]

10. I heard part of an interview with him this morning,

that's what he said, anyway.

[wowimthere]

6. Here is what I want to know... why did the police drop the charges?

That is an admission of some kind that he should not have been charged.

[rvablue]

17. PD didn't drop charges, the DA's office did. n/t

[wowimthere]

19. why do you suppose charges were dropped?

[nosmokes]

16. I don't care what the pig said, Prof Gates was in HIS house!

Once that was determined the entire game changes and the pig shoulda been hat in hand apologizing and asking what he could do to set the situation right, not putting him cuffs putting him under arrest.

[FrenchieCat]

2. I just didn't realize that folks think that Presidents can't have opinions.....

I'm still trying to figure that one out.

BTW, I agree with everything you are saying.

[wowimthere]

4. thank you FenchieCat

[Solomon]

7. Why should he have an opinion. He can't even speak it

in his own house, apparently.

[RayOfHope]

9. No shit! Thanks for pointing out what should be painfully obvious, people seem to be missing this n/

[wowimthere]

8. President Obama... Please do NOT appologize. Everyone is entitled to an opinion

[rvablue]

18. He's not apologizing, check out

this link to an earlier thread I posted:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=8546287&mesg_id=8546287

[Davis_X_Machina]

11. A helpful discussion...

...from someone who's done Massachusetts police-misconduct work:

Nightmare on Ware Street.

Under color of law, Crowley entered a residence to investigate a possible break-in, and after his probable cause had evaporated, he continued to act under color of law, but without any justifiable purpose. And he covered it up with false charges. Figuring that his best defense was a criminal charge, Crowley did what bad cops do. He decided he would look better if Gates looked worse. Perhaps one day cops will figure out that trumped-up charges worsen a case of investigating something that turns out not to have been a crime.

[Blue_Roses]

13. and that explains why there were two police reports...

bingo!

[wowimthere]

15. and there is the ego... well stated.

[hughee99]

20. Did his probable cause evaporate?

He was responding to a call about a suspected break-in. Just because he arrives and finds the owner of the house at home doesn't mean the house wasn't broken into or that a burglar isn't in the house (without the owner's knowledge). Establishing Gates was the owner isn't the same as establishing Gates was the person the original call was made about.

[Davis_X_Machina]

21. Did he ask Gates anything about a putative break-in?

Did he ask Gates' permission -- we've now established he's the homeowner, and there's no hot pursuit, or officer-in-danger, or imminent-destruction-of-evidence exception, so he has to ask -- if he can have a look around?

How does ordering Gates onto the porch make the hunt for the putative burglar more efficient? If it's by making Gates safer, was that point made to him?

[hughee99]

22. I don't know what the answer to any of these questions is...

but IMHO, they are ones that would probably need to be answered before it could be determined that the officer still had cause to be there.

[itsrobert]

12. Or the charges were dropped

after they knew who he was, a close friend of the President, the Mayor, and well enough to know the Chief of Police to request him/her on the phone.

Does anyone think they would drop the charges to a black man who doens't have any connections?

[wowimthere]

14. the point is... it is an admission of some kind that a mistake was made...

you may be correct that they dropped the charges because of connections but the charges were dropped nonetheless.

[Cha]

23. That's exactly what

I think went South with officer crowley.