Why can’t you grasp the fact that even if Crowley’s version of events are 100% true they still constitute an abuse of power and wrongful arrest. The man was on his porch criticizing the officer. That’s not a public nuisance. That is a bogus trumped up charge to punish him for being disrespectful. No one really gives 2 shits what Gates said, he could have been hurling insults like he had tourettes, he didn’t commit a crime and therefore can’t legally be arrested.
You have made up your mind that Gates is an asshole. I’m inclined to agree with you, but that doesn’t absolve the institutional issue that has been raised here. Does being an asshole with a temper mean you have no rights? Does that mean a cop can arrest you whenever you make him unhappy?
Assuming that is true, I have no problem with someone being arrested after ignoring a SECOND warning to either calm down or STFU outside of their house.
Dude. I’m on record as saying I don’t like the idea of Americans getting arrested on their own porches. I do agree that racial profiling is bad and that abusive cops are bad and that too often cops abuse their discretion by arresting upset people.
I can believe all that and believe that in this particular instancethis particular cop didn’t act like the cops you describe above.
I live in New Orleans. We have no shortage of surly cops who abuse their badge and cuffs and guns. I don’t think Crowley abused his.
And why would any thinking person believe that taking 10 steps outside onto the porch would miraculously cause a person who was upset and yelling to stop being upset and cease yelling? Isn’t it more likely that “Come outside” and “Come outside and yell at me” are the same suggestion in this case? Would you suggest or encourage, if you were a LEO trying to de-escalate the situation, that a person who was causing a ruckus inside his home should come outside his home, where the exact same behavior that is legal indoors becomes disturbing the peace? I ask you.
It isn’t the responsibility of the cop to keep Gates from being arrested. He had done what he needed to do, was leaving, and informed Gates of the fact. Yeah, it was foreseeable that Gates would follow him outside and cause a disturbance, but so what? It isn’t the cop’s responsibility to sit there and be yelled at until Gates was done so that he could leave without Gates creating a disturbance.
The officer could have said, “Goodbye” and left. Instead, he suggested Gates come outside and continue the conversation, knowing damn well what was going to happen next. He was not planning to leave. The police report says he was going outside to talk more on his radio.
Furthermore, if Sgt. Crowley was having trouble communicating with HQ and if the folks at HQ could hear the yelling as Sgt. Crowley was trying to make a transmission, there is the possibility that HQ would confuse the yelling with a significant problem and order back-up into the house and things could have gotten even more out of hand.
What a disgustingly elitist viewpoint. “Only people with PhDs have self-control. The rest of the unwashed masses can’t help getting angry–they’re just a bunch of dumb brutes. Humor them, won’t you?”
Calming down angry people is the police officer’s job. What part of that don’t you understand?
So you think that police officers should be able to arrest you because you piss them off? You’re pissing **me **off. Why can’t I get you arrested?
Who cares whether Gates blew up at the officer? Police are in a public service job–taking abuse comes with the territory. Yelling at a police officer might make you an asshole, but it doesn’t justify an arrest.
So if you think you’ve got a justifiable complaint, and you haven’t heard the officer identify themself, you should just shut up and take it?
From Gates’ application to Yale. (He got in; apparently “whitey” was in a charitable mood.)
I love that Gates has the nerve to accuse anybody of racial profiling. I have lost serious respect for him over this- not for being p.o.d over the police but for his inability to say “I overreacted as well”; he owes Crowley an apology as much as Crowley owes him one.
I agree, and quite frankly, that was the only reason he got arrested in the first place. Not that he should have been arrested, mind, but this reeks to me that he acted like a complete racist asshole to the officer.
President Obama had damn well better make a personal hospital visit to the next person to get the shit beat out of them for the color of their skin, their sexual orientation, their religion, etc.
Maybe he will if they capture the nation’s attention for a week and the incident generates the degree of interest and widespread discussion that this one has. Otherwise, pray tell, why had he “damn well better” do that?
Best spent? Not the most helpful way to look at it, in my opinion. Reasonably spent? I would say yes, given the longstanding and pervasive undercurrent of racial tension in the U.S., and the not too farfetched possibility that presidential leadership in addressing the issue may contribute to genuine progress in improving the situation.
