He didn’t break in, though. After failing to get the front door to work, he entered through the back door using a key.
IMO First Amendment rights do not extend to harassing someone, even if it’s a cop. If the officer was leaving and up to that point had not provoked Gates then Gates was more at fault.
Criticism, even heated ranting, is not harassment in the legal sense.
There are lot of cases on when mere words directed at police officers can constitute disorderly conduct. In some states, you can flip off an officer, or yell that them in public, so long as you’re not directly interfering with their duties. In other states, you cannot do so in public. But I don’t think any court has found that verbally criticizing police officers on your own property is conduct that can be prohibited.
I’m going by the article in the OP, in which his lawyer states as follows:
I haven’t followed any other account. Where are you getting the “opened the back door” from?
Sounds to me like a reasonable person, seeing two guys “forcing the door open”, would be somewhat suspicious - if they didn’t recognize one of them as the person who lives there.
Where the two accounts disagree, you have to assume one or the other of them is closer to what actually happened.
To my mind, the cop’s story makes more sense in terms of how people who are angry behave; it certainly isn’t beyond the realm of possibility that someone who thinks that the cops are just harassing him because he’s Black would refuse to produce ID in his own home, just like he refused to allow the cop inside (on which both accounts agree).
Someone could reasonably conclude that the Prof’s version hangs together better, of course.
My point is that it doesn’t really matter, as the two accounts are not radically different - even assuming the cop’s story is 100% true, it would not justify an arrest.
Furthermore, this was not mere criticism; this was a grievance directed at a government official. Whether or not it had merit is irrelevant. Though non-trivial in itself, and worth debating, it is distinct from the ability of a citizen to make a claim of a grievance without fear of arrest or retribution.
Whether or not the citizen was rude or obnoxious is irrelevant. In his home, a traditionally a legally sacrosanct area (take any literature from the 4th Amend to the Castle Doctrine), a person be in the fullest possession of their rights. The right to loudly yell at a state actor is veritably absolute (yes, for the overly pedantic, there are exceptions, but that’s why it’s “veritably”).
Lastly, has anyone else pictured Gates shouting “Help! Help! Come and see the violence inherent in the system. Help! Help! I’m being repressed!”
It’s not in the police report, but CNN says “He opened his back door with his key and tried unsuccessfully from inside his home to open the front door. Eventually, Gates and his driver forced the door open from the outside, Ogletree said.”
The woman who called the police may or may not have realized one of the people was inside, but from Gates’ POV, he’s already established his house by walking in through the door.
No, but I’m somewhat amused he resorted to a “ya mama.”
Well, according to your quote, it appears that both of them were outside when they forced the door, though the prof had previously attempted to open it from the inside.
I would assume that a professor has the smarts to realize that a person seeing two guys forcing open a door may not know that one had previously been inside, and not take umbrage at the very thought that the cops were investigating what a reasonable person could conclude was suspicious.
It’s quite possible his attorney is the liar.
My WAG scenario:
Cops show up. Gates is irritable, wants the police to just go away, and is not especially cooperative. When asked to show ID, he is not immediately forthcoming in producing it (and perhaps, a bit angry at not being recognized on sight).
Realizing the cops aren’t simply going to leave, he eventually relents and shows them the Harvard ID. Instead of saying “sorry for all the trouble, Professor” and turning on their heels, the cops attempt to contact the Harvard police to confirm he is who he says he is. Gates, already peeved, goes ballistic.
I doubt the police were justified in arresting him—but the above scenario at least passes the smell test.
No. The police force in America has been the strongarm of racism in this country and its a fact that doesn’t need to be belabored here. All one needs to be a cop in Massachusetts is 19 years old, completed a GED, pass a background and medical exam. Law enforcement is fucked up in this country precisely because we eagerly give teenagers a gun and tell them to “Protect and Serve” without telling them who they are protecting. Besides, I’m of the belief that 99.5% of the people who desire power, probably don’t deserve it anyway.
If it were up to me. I’d administer a polygraph and ask them, “Do you have harbor any ill-feelings toward other ethnicities? If so, would you use your position, as an officer, to disparage or harass them?” I bet over 50% of the applicant pool would shrink.
- Honesty
Here is the clencher for me as to who had the ability to change the outcome of this scenario and failed wholly in their responsibility to do so:
That’s the cop’s own words, from the report. The report that he wrote and therefore could craft to paint himself in the best light possible.
He got the ID. He got yelled at. He was asked for his badge number and name. The answer was to provide that, writing it down if necessary (all cops carry a notepad, after all) and saying “good day, sir” and leaving. Instead, Mr. Confused (not a good cop trait) and Surprised called in another police body and additional backup after he was already “led to believe” that there was no crime there, for no apparent or logically explicable reason. He didn’t like that Gates was being mouthy with him. But Gates can say anything he wants to, especially within the confines of his own home, and until he makes a threat or admission of a crime, there is no grounds for arresting him.
No, persons are “seized” too, see Terry v. Ohio for a start.
CMC fnord!
Even if he did break-in to his own home, exactly what law makes it illegal for me to kick down my front door?
(Maybe I’ve had it with a front door that sticks, maybe I’m replacing it and I want to vent my rage upon it. Short of things clearly illegal (I can’t decide to set my house on fire or use explosives, instead of a sledgehammer and a Sawzall) am I not free to with my property as I see fit? Up to and including damaging/destroying it?)
I agree that something like this sounds plausible (and I said in my first post that the truth was probably somewhere in the middle), but I think police reports always have to be understood as being presented in the most self-serving terms possible. No polive report is ever going to say, “We thought he was an asshole so we fucked with him more than we had to,” which is probably what would have been a more accurate description.
Agreed, tumbledown.
According to the laywer (who was interviewed this morning on NPR’s Tell Me More), the cop actually followed Gates into the house without being invited. Also, Gates produced two pieces of ID, but the police officer still felt the need to call for backup.
The guy uses a cane and is a nerdy, nebbish-looking guy. Why call for backup? And why escalate the situation by goading him to come outside? Why not provide the information that Gates requested? I don’t care if Gates was yelling, the officer should have complied with that request and let his supervisor decide if he was on the up-and-up.
I have no problem with the cop following up on the call. But arresting someone for throwing a non-violent, contained-on-his-own-property hissy fit is just dumb, especially since this guy is fairly well-known. I mean, surely one of the Harvard security officers on the scene could have pulled dude aside and said, “Look, this guy is famous. You sure you wanna do this?” What this officer did embarrassed the badge as well as his department.
I don’t blame Gates for being upset. He’d just gotten back from a very long flight, he had to struggle to get into his own home (I’m imagining myself, doing the pee pee dance, since I often have to urinate as soon as I get home), and then suddenly he’s got a cop riding his ass in his own house, questioning him about whether or not he really belongs. And then still giving him shit even after he cooperates. Hell yeah any reasonable person in Gates’ shoes would be upset. I don’t know about traumatized, as the lawyer says Gates was, but I know I wouldn’t be honky-dory about the whole thing.
if his lawyer says: He forced the door open with the help of his cab driver, Professor Ogletree said, and had been inside for a few minutes when Sgt. James Crowley of the Cambridge Police Department appeared at his door and asked him to step outside then I would like the number of the cab company that waits for you to go through the back door and then helps you break down the front door. Must have been some tip.
Fact: 2 people were trying to break the front door open by force. Any police officer that didn’t confirm the address to the person breaking in is not doing his/her job. A School ID does not link a home address to the person. A college professor should be able to figure that out. Maybe if he had gone to Yale he would have been edumacated enough to reason this through.
Nothing. but sane people usually use a key and burglars usually break stuff so it’s beyond common sense to ensure the person breaking the door down is the owner. If I did this and the police didn’t validate my address I would send a letter of complaint to the precinct from whence they came.
Perhaps the cab driver recognized Gates and decided to extend his brush with celebrity as long as possible. Or maybe he’s just a helpful guy. I don’t see how this is relevant anyway.
His lawyer says that he produced ID showing his home address. The police report implicitly confirms this fact. Furthermore, Harvard police officers who arrived on the scene vouched for Gates and his residency, according to the lawyer.
You don’t seem very “edumacated” about the facts.
But someone didn’t see that – not for legal purposes. Someone reported seeing that – could have been a teenaged prankster. Could have been a liar.
The police need to ascertain the facts, not act as if every phoned-in comment is some kind of carte blanche authorizing them to use whatever means necessary. Have these guys never heard of bogus complaints, false reports, nearsighted old ladies?
In this case it turns out that the report wasn’t too far off from reality, but many of them are. The police shouldn’t arrive with a presumption of the facts – they should arrive intending to determine the facts.
OK, I’m 12, I admit it, but I snickered at this unfortunate typo.
Then I thought, some people in this thread are arguing if he was a honky, he wouldn’t be in this mess.
I’m smart enough not to give a police officer any grief for doing his job so I guess I’m smarted than a Harvard professor.