I live in a 40 unit apartment complex. There are other apartment complexes next door/across the street, as well. I am familiar with exactly one neighbor.
Never-the-less, if I saw someone climbing in a window, or trying to break open a door, I would call it in, regardless of the ethnicity of the person/people involved.
Um… if that’s the dumbest thing you’ve read all week, I could point you to some threads. 
I thought he was merely saying that it came down to word-against-word, and he was choosing to give more (or at least equal) credibility to the professor’s.
Quick question: how strong is the argument here that the police shouldn’t have asked him for ID in the first place? That seems to be the professor’s contention, and what got his knickers so tightly knotted.
Aside from a bit of back-and-forth about interrogational custody, it seems that most of the OUTRAGE expressed here is over the arrest. There’s some speculation about the racial underpinnings, yes, but even if Mr. Crankypants was totally wrong about the cop’s motivations, would it change anyone’s opinion of the situation?
I don’t think they should have arrested him, but I’m not convinced it was racially motivated. I also don’t think it was really that great an injustice to arrest him for about an hour and let him go, dropping all the charges. Talk about “the constitution” all you want, there are laws about public behavior, and people are arrested all the time for being belligerent to cops.
You two are just miscommunicating. Let me help.
MOID’s point was that cops cannot detain people just because the person might be doing something a criminal would do to avoid detection. The cop needs reasonable suspicion founded on articulable facts to stop you, and probable cause to arrest you. The fact that you’re sitting on your front steps, or pretending to be a mannequin in a department store, most likely does not meet even the low threshold of reasonable suspicion.
VT’s point was that if the cops are chasing someone suspected of wrongdoing, that person cannot eliminate the cops reasonable suspicion by pretending to be a mannequin, etc.
Neither point contradicts the other.
Neither seems to have anything to do with the story, either.
But they shouldn’t be.
And are you really marginalizing “the constitution”? You’re not from around here, are you?
Yeah, all except the “guarantees”.
No, I’m just marginalizing the whole “WE LUVS TEH CONSTITSHUN WHI DONT U???” argument. It’s facile and self-serving and Coulterish.
Besides, I said he shouldn’t have been arrested.
To my mind, the Prof was unjustified in taking umbrage where he knew he had to break into hois own house.
There really aren’t all that many differences between the two accounts, at least according to the article in the OP. The following seem to be the important ones:
The Prof claims he showed his ID right away, the cop claims he initially refused and acted all outraged.
The Prof it appears says the cop didn’t believe his ID, and the cop claims he did.
The Prof claims he got pissed when the cop refused to believe he lived there. The cop claims he started pissed, played the race card right away, and he (the cop) never doubted the Prof lived there.
They both seem to agree that the cop was leaving when the Prof followed him out. The Cop characterizes what the Prof then did as “yelling”, the Prof’s lawyer as follows:
My armchair read, for what it is worth: I tend to think that the cop’s version is closer to the truth, but I am unsure if it really matters. Assuming that the cop’s version is 100% true, I do not think an arrest was warranted: the cop evidently believed the guy wasn’t a robber, believed he was in his own house, and arrested him for (basically) yelling and being an ass, which aren’t really the sort of crimes I think the cops should arrest people for, unless there is some real danger to themselves or others.
I don’t see any particular evidence that the cop was a racist, though of course he might be. It wasn’t the cop’s fault the call came in and he responded to it. A White guy acting that beligerently could easily receive the same treatment this Black Prof got.
In summary, it seems to me that the more likely version is that Prof was being an ass, but that the cop was unjustified in arresting him for it. He should have just gone off muttering under his breath about ungrateful rich people. 
Nice summation, Malthus, and I agree with you on every point.
Wait. A. Second!
He said what I said. Why do you agree with him and not with me?
-FrL-
I’ve been in pretty much the same situation - came home late, didn’t have my key, crawled up the outside of the house and into a bedroom window, neighbors saw it and called the cops.
Cops came to the door, I answered. I offered to prove I lived there. They asked me to step out onto the stoop. I did so, and again offered to show them my driver’s license with my picture and address on it. I did so, and they left without further incident.
I am not black. I was also not an asshole about it. It is perfectly understandable that someone breaking down a door (or climbing in a window) might be up to no good, and might also be trying to brazen it out by claiming they live there. I for one would prefer that the police not take their word for it.
It is an entirely understandable assumption - if you lived there, one would expect that you go in thru the front door, and if the police show up, it doesn’t matter if you are a big important Harvard professor or black as the Earl of Hell’s asshole - don’t cop an attitude, and you won’t have so much trouble.
It’s like good old Rodney King, in a way. There were two other people in the car with ol’ Roddie, both just as black as he was. And nobody laid a finger on either of them.
Gates didn’t have to Tom it either. The cops show up, you say “no, I live here - want to see my ID? It’s got the address and my picture on it.” Then go out on the porch (if that is what they want), make sure the cop is OK with you diving into your pocket, and show him your farking ID. Then you have a good laugh, say thank you to the nice officer for keeping an eye on your house while you are away, and you got another vignette you can add to your “Faces of America” thing. And you didn’t even have to go to China for it.
Get the chip off your damn shoulder.
Regards,
Shodan
He said it nicer?
So Shodan, did the professor deserve to be arrested for going all Malcolm X on the cop?
Not really a question of deserts. If you cop an attitude, nobody gains anything.
I don’t see how you sacrifice your rights, or encourage the Thundering Jackboots of Fascism, by saying “yeah, I see how you might find what I am doing a trifle suspicious. I live here, I can prove it. Wanna see my ID?”
I do see some disadvantages to accusing every officer who wonders why you broke down the front door of being Bull Connor. Black or white, it’s a reasonable question.
Regards,
Shodan
If a person was really breaking into someone’s house, wouldn’t it make sense that they might take the homeowner’s ID?
Maybe his ID was old and he didn’t look exactly like the picture. My driver’s license has a picture of me from 10+ years ago. It makes sense the police would want more than one piece of evidence that this guy was the owner
By “all the,” you mean one. I made one guarantee – that cops were being at least as dickish as Gates. I feel safe standing by that, especially now that Gates has been exonerated.
So you’re saying we should assume that Gates is a liar?
I don’t buy that he refused to show them his ID.
No, no, no. We should assume (guarantee, actually) that the cops were lying and being dickish. Come on, get with the program.
How do you not burst into laughter as you’re typing this stuff?
Two anecdotes:
Lived in a bad neighborhood. One day I’m running for the bus, which if I miss will make me late for work. A cop rolls up, gets out the car and stops me. I protest that he’ll make me late for work. He says something happened down the street, we know who didi it and I just need to see your ID. Showed ID and made it to work on time. After thinking it over, I concluded the cop probably just made that crap up.
Walking to the video store around 11:30 pm, I cross a busy street police spot me. U-turn ensues. Cop stops me. I explain where I’m going and present the videos as evidence. They still wanna search me and run my ID because of a robbery earlier. Because of the 1st incident I don’t believe them but I have to comply. I went to the place the next day to see if they were robbed and they were.
In both cases I thought I had offered enough explanation not to be detained. Moral of the story is the cops are gonna search you regardless. Black guy BTW.