Thursday, July 23, 2009

News Brief

This excerpt for WBZ news is particularly insightful. What is incredible about this Gates incident is that Gates keeps coming up as a racist prima donna, and that President Obama killed his opportunity to focus the nation on the health issue by saying that the "Cambridge Police acted stupidly."
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Forget about Gates. This gives us way more insight into Obama.

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Jul 23, 2009 3:37 pm US/Eastern

Gates Arresting Officer: Obama 'Way Off Base'

BOSTON (WBZ) ― The white police sergeant who arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. said Thursday President Barack Obama was "way off base" claiming Cambridge officers acted "stupidly" during the incident.

Read: White House Clarifies Obama's Remark

Sgt. James Crowley, who is a police academy expert on racial profiling, responded to Gates' home near Harvard University last week to investigate a report of a burglary and demanded Gates show him identification. Police say Gates at first refused and accused the officer of racism.

Gates was charged with disorderly conduct. The charge was dropped Tuesday, and Gates has since demanded an apology from Crowley.

'THERE WAS A LOT OF YELLING'

"I acted appropriately," Crowley told WBZ Radio's Carl Stevens Thursday.

Watch: The Crowley Interview

"Mister Gates was given plenty of opportunities to stop what he was doing. He didn't. He acted very irrational he controlled the outcome of that event."

"There was a lot of yelling, there was references to my mother, something you wouldn't expect from anybody that should be grateful that you were there investigating a report of a crime in progress, let alone a Harvard University professor."

According to the police report, Crowley asked Gates to talk outside, to which he responded "Yeah, I'll speak with your mama outside."

OBAMA ON THE ARREST

Obama was asked about the arrest of Gates, who is his friend, at the end of a nationally televised news conference on health care Wednesday night.

"I think it's fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry," Obama said. "Number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home. And number three -- what I think we know separate and apart from this incident -- is that there is a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately, and that's just a fact."

Watch: President Obama's full comments

PRESIDENT 'WAY OFF BASE'

Crowley maintained he had done nothing wrong in arresting Gates.

"I support the president of the United States 110-percent," he told WBZ Radio.

"I think he's way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts, as he himself stated before he made that comment. I don't know what to say about that. I guess a friend of mine would support my position, too."

Crowley has taught a class on racial profiling for five years at Lowell Police Academy. In the class, he teaches officers about different situations and how officers should handle them.

GATES: 'NOT ABOUT ME'

Gates has said he was "outraged" by the arrest.

He said the white officer walked into his home without his permission and only arrested him as the professor followed him to the porch, repeatedly demanding the sergeant's name and badge number because he was unhappy over his treatment.

"This isn't about me; this is about the vulnerability of black men in America," Gates said.

He said the incident made him realize how vulnerable poor people and minorities are "to capricious forces like a rogue policeman, and this man clearly was a rogue policeman."

RACISM CLAIMS 'UNFORTUNATE'

So what does Crowley think about Gates' claim that he's a racist?

"It almost doesn't even warrant a comment it's so ridiculous. My friends, my family, my colleagues, those people (whose) opinions mean the most to me, they know who I am. They know what I am and what I am not."

"It's an unfortunate thing that the professor or other people have even mentioned that."

'APOLOGY WON'T COME FROM ME'

Crowley, 42, said he won't apologize. And his union has expressed "full and unqualified" support for him.

"The apology wont come from me. I've done nothing wrong," he told WBZ.

REGGIE LEWIS CONNECTION

Fellow officers, black and white, say he is well-liked and respected on the force. Crowley was a campus police officer at Brandeis University in July 1993 when he administered CPR trying to save the life of former Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis.

Lewis, who was black, collapsed and died during an off-season workout.

SUPPORT FOR BOTH SIDES

Gates' supporters maintain his arrest was a case of racial profiling.

Supporters of the Cambridge police were stunned the incident came up at the White House news conference.

"We were shocked to hear the president weigh in on this during a prime time news conference. They are a model police department; true professionals. It's a shame that they are being nationally targeted like this," Harold MacGilvray of the Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition said in a statement.

Crowley said he wouldn't do anything different if he had the chance to do things over.

"If a similar call came in tomorrow, I wouldn't shy away from responding and I would do what I have to do."
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