<p>"First amendment doesn’t give you the right to do say whatever you want to whomever you want and you know that. "</p>
<p>Nope. But it does give you the right to make non-threatening remarks to police officers on your own property. This wasn’t even close to the kind of intimidation that falls outside of First Amendment protection. I suspect you know that, too.</p>
<p>edvest’s post is ridiculous.</p>
<p>Hanna, but you know you can’t just talk to a police officer any which way. I don’t think the officer was threatened (at least physically) he was just annoyed and decided to arrest him. If a police officer asked me where I was going and I had satisfied his requests and then I went on to say “You’re a stupid low-life, how dare you think about stopping a Stanford student” I could get arrested. I wouldn’t have been threatening him, but I sure didn’t exercise good judgment.</p>
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<p>Do you mean hope that they are not shot in the head while sitting on the floor at a subway stop in California or cowering in a doorway in New York? That kind of hope?</p>
<p>But NSM, a Harvard professor? Uneducated people get ticked off by little little things. He should have been thankful that within minutes of complaint the cops came down rushing to investigate.</p>
<p>“he was just annoyed and decided to arrest him.”</p>
<p>If so, that’s illegal, and violation of the arrestee’s Fourth Amendment rights (leaving race out of the picture entirely). It couldn’t be clearer – you have a right to be secure in your person against unreasonable seizures. I don’t see where the police officer’s version of events comes close to providing reasonable suspicion that Prof. Gates was committing a crime, or about to commit a crime.</p>
<p>Sure, cops do illegal things all the time, and it’s smart to avoid annoying them. But if you do, and they illegally arrest you, you have every right to complain.</p>
<p>I guess he was charged with “failure to do right.” Years ago - and not that many - when cops were no longer able to arrest people for loitering, they came up with the charge “failure to do right” as the catch all to get “certain” people off the streets in “certain” neighborhoods.</p>
<p>Especially a Harvard professor who recognizes bad cop behavior. How can so many continue to defend the cop’s actions when the department has said arresting him was a mistake?</p>
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<p>The policeman was the person who should have diffused the situation–he’s the one who should be trained on how to deal with folks who are upset. I think Gates had reason to be upset. It sounds to me like the cop lost his cool and the situation, unfortunately, escalated. Cops aren’t supposed to lose their composure in situations like this. They have to deal with this kind of encounter all the time. What was gained by hauling Gates into the station and arresting him? I heard a news report (local Boston radio station) on my way home this
afternoon–the Cambridge police dropped charges against Gates and offered an apology.</p>
<p>Innocent black men who have been shot by cops:</p>
<p>"Life was looking good for Omar Edwards up to the point of encountering a man rummaging through his vehicle in Manhattan’s East Harlem neighborhood on the night of May 28.</p>
<p>A month prior the 25-year-old police rookie had married the mother of his children, 1 1/2-year-old Xavier and 7-month-old Keanua. Wearing street clothes, he had just gotten off work at a job he had wanted to do since he was a child. Perhaps it seemed like things couldn’t get any better. In truth, they never would.</p>
<pre><code>He was in street clothes as he walked toward his car parked about a block away on Second Ave. between E. 124th and E. 125th St., where he saw Miguel Goitia rummaging through the vehicle. The driver’s side window was busted out.
Edwards grabbed Goitia, who managed to slip out of his sweater and escape Edwards’ grip, Kelly said.
Gun drawn, Edwards gave chase.
At the same time, three plainclothes officers in an unmarked car saw Edwards running down the street. The car made a U-turn, and one of the officers, a white cop with more than four years on the job, got out and fired six shots - hitting Edwards twice, once in the left arm and once in the chest, [New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond] Kelly said."
</code></pre>
<p>[Mistaken</a> Identity: Black Off-Duty Cop Shot Dead By White Officer in NYC - BV Black Spin](<a href=“http://www.bvblackspin.com/2009/05/30/mistaken-identity-black-off-duty-cop-shot-dead-by-white-officer/]Mistaken”>http://www.bvblackspin.com/2009/05/30/mistaken-identity-black-off-duty-cop-shot-dead-by-white-officer/)</p>
<p>"A 23-year-old man was shot on New Year’s Eve by a police officer in the driveway of his own Bellaire, Texas home while his parents looked on.</p>
<p>Robert “Robbie” Tolan and his cousin had just returned home from a nearby restaurant on December 31 at about 2 a.m., according to CBS affiliate KHOU. An officer, Sgt. Jeff Cotton, pulled into the driveway behind them.</p>
<p>Family members said the victim and his cousin were ordered to the ground. They reportedly complied to the officer’s order. But when Tolan’s mother and father came outside to question what was happening, the situation got a little heated.</p>
<p>According to Tolan’s family, one of the officers shoved Tolan’s mother against a wall.</p>
<p>“He told them not to shove his mother,” said David Berg, attorney for the Tolan family.</p>
<p>Tolan reportedly “leaned” up and questioned the officer about what was going on.</p>
<p>At that point, Sgt. Cotton opened fire."
[Texas</a> Police Officer Shoots Man In Own Driveway Over SUV - cbs13.com](<a href=“http://cbs13.com/national/Robert.Tolan.shot.2.902245.html]Texas”>http://cbs13.com/national/Robert.Tolan.shot.2.902245.html)</p>
<p>"</p>
<p>HOMER, La.—On the last afternoon of his life, Bernard Monroe was hosting a cookout for family and friends in front of his dilapidated home on Adams Street in this small northern Louisiana town.</p>
<p>Throat cancer had robbed the 73-year-old retired electric utility worker of his voice years ago, but family members said Monroe was clearly enjoying the commotion of a dozen of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren cavorting around him in the dusty, grassless yard.</p>
<p>Then the Homer police showed up, two white officers whose arrival caused the participants at the black family gathering to quickly fall silent.</p>
<p>Within moments, Monroe lay dead, shot by one of the officers as his family looked on.</p>
<p>Now the Louisiana State Police, the FBI and the U.S. Justice Department are swarming over this impoverished lumber town of 3,800, drawn by the allegations of numerous witnesses that police killed an unarmed, elderly black man without justification—and then moved a gun to make it look like the man had been holding it…</p>
<p>The most recent national analysis from the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics shows that blacks and Hispanics were nearly three times as likely as whites to be searched by police—and blacks were almost four times as likely as whites to be subjected to the use of force.</p>
<p>Psychologists are stepping up research into the implicit, unconscious racial biases that may be driving such statistics and affecting police behavior.</p>
<p>“If in fact police have implicit biases—if they automatically associate blacks with crime—then that would be relevant to an officer in a split-second, shoot-or-don’t-shoot situation,” said Lorie Fridell, a criminology professor at the University of South Florida who is creating a new anti-bias police training program with funding from the Justice Department. “Is the officer more inclined to believe he sees a gun in the hand of a black person, rather than a cell phone? I think that is possible.”"
[Race</a> may be factor in police shooting of unarmed elderly man – chicagotribune.com](<a href=“http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-race-shootings-webmar13,0,7686526.story]Race”>Race may be factor in police shooting of unarmed elderly man)</p>
<p>"In what the Inglewood and surrounding African American communities are calling senseless – another unarmed Black man, 19 year-old Michael Byoune, was shot and killed by an Inglewood Police Department (IPD) officer in the early morning hours this week.
[Inglewood</a> Police Gun Down Unarmed Black Man - NAM](<a href=“New America Media”>New America Media)</p>
<p>"In 1966, a Los Angeles cop shot to death Leonard Deadwyler, a black man who was rushing his pregnant wife to the hospital. The officer, who stopped Deadwyler for speeding, leaned inside the car window with his gun drawn and shot him. A coroner’s jury ruled the killing accidental.</p>
<p>In 1979, white off-duty policeman Larry Shockley shot 22-year-old Randy Heath in the back of the neck outside a Miami warehouse. The officer first said he caught Heath attempting to burglarize the building and shot the unarmed man after a short struggle. He later admitted there was no struggle and claimed his gun discharged accidentally. Heath’s sister said her brother had stopped at the building to urinate. A grand jury refused to indict Shockley.</p>
<p>And then there were the cases of Amadou Diallo and Sean Bell, two unarmed black men who were killed in New York City in separate police shootings. Diallo, an African immigrant, was struck by 19 bullets fired by four white cops in 1999 while standing in the vestibule of his apartment building. The officers said they mistook a wallet in his hand for a gun. A jury acquitted them.</p>
<p>Bell was killed in 2006, just hours before his wedding, when three plainclothes police officers fired 50 shots at him as he tried to drive away from his bachelor’s party at a New York strip club. The cops said they thought an occupant in Bell’s car had a gun. None was found. A judge acquitted the officers.officers fired 50 shots at him as he tried to drive away from his bachelor’s party at a New York strip club. The cops said they thought an occupant in Bell’s car had a gun. None was found. A judge acquitted the officers.
[Post-racial</a> era? Go tell victims of police shootings - Opinion - USATODAY.com](<a href=“http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/01/post-racial-era.html]Post-racial”>http://blogs.usatoday.com/oped/2009/01/post-racial-era.html)</p>
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<p>I expect the cop to handle the situation and not get annoyed because the person he’s questioned (who isn’t guilty of anything and has shown ID) is upset by an encounter like this one</p>
<p>“ut NSM, a Harvard professor? Uneducated people get ticked off by little little things. He should have been thankful that within minutes of complaint the cops came down rushing to investigate.”</p>
<p>Huh? Imagine this: You’ve been on airports and in airplanes for about 24 hours as you traveled home from China. You’re exhausted after going through customs, etc. You especially are tired because you’re almost 60 and have difficulty walking due to a club foot.</p>
<p>You finally get home, and have difficulty getting in to your home where you’ve lived for years. All you want to do is finally go to sleep. When you finally get in your own house, the police enter as if you are a thug and a thief because apparently in the middle of the day, your neighbor – who has seen you coming and going for years — calls the police and tells them that your house is being broken into. You especially are distinctive in your area because you’re one of the only grey haired black men with a limp who has lived on that street for years, and you’re one of the neighborhood celebrities. </p>
<p>You give police 2 forms of ID, demonstrating that you are the resident of the house and also are an internationally recognized person. </p>
<p>The police don’t apologize, but want even more information from you.</p>
<p>You wouldn’t be angry? What does being educated have to do with not getting angry during a situation that would cause virtually anyone to lose their temper?</p>
<p>That’s the picture that I had after reading both accounts and learning that he had just returned from China. I don’t know where he went but I was in China for three weeks in the 1980s and you have different foods, water, customs, etc. all of which can contribute to minor irritations. Or sickness and major irritations. I recall really wanting to get a burger and fries after spending time in areas where you couldn’t get them.</p>
<p>If you’re in your 20s, you probably don’t know what it feels like to be in your 40s, 50s, and 60s. With injuries that take far longer to heal, than when you were young. Some of these injuries are permanent.</p>
<p>I’m a bit curious about the vehicle: was it a taxicab or an airport limo? They have special license plates that a police officer would surely recognize. Your typical burglar doesn’t call an airport limo or taxicab to rob a house.</p>
<p>I pulled up google earth on the street and it has 3d building displays. I see at most two standalone residences and what look like four townhouses. These buildings are dwarfed by many apartment buildings on the road. This is generally high-density housing - my original impression was a neighborhood of SFHs with yards. The distances from the entrances to the sidewalk look very small.</p>
<p>The Charles Stewart case is a good example of the police-race issues that Boston has had in the past. And busing of course.</p>
<p>Morsmodre (post #102): “Edvest’s post is ridiculous”.</p>
<p>I suppose you are talking about (post #98). *You can’t handle the truth, can you ? * I can hear Jack Nicholson now.</p>
<p>Northstarmom - What if a police officer showed up and was greeted by a 35 year old white male. If he mouthed off and was disrespectful to the officer, continued yelling epithets as the officer was leaving, obviously attempting to make a scene in front of all the neighbors - I think you attitude of an arrest for disorderly conduct might be different.</p>
<p>I am not saying the arrest was the right thing to do - au contraire. I just don’t think it’s racial. Prof Gates is surely getting a lot of mileage out of it though. The police officer, meanwhile, has probably been gagged by the department and can’t say anything to defend himself.</p>
<p>I tell you what - Let’s create more integrated police departments. Let’s encourage more black males (and females) to put their lives on the line daily and serve the public. You know what? Black mom’ discourage their children from pursuing a career as a police officer - they infuse their children’s minds with tales of racial inequality and injustice.<br>
A number of parents have posted on this thread who are so obviously anti-police I can’t see them encouraging their kids from pursuing police work either.
And the cycle continues.</p>
<p>BCE - I read it was a “car service” </p>
<p>These are normally a full size late model car with a driver, not a cab or a limo and seldom marked in any way. </p>
<p>Other than that I see no additional information that deturs me from the opinion I expressed in post #63</p>
<p>All those who replied with *“I expect the cop to diffuse the situation” *or "The cop should have done this or that" and sentiments similar to these: no should-haves, could-haves.</p>
<p>How is what you are saying different than: Whites have to do all the changing ? </p>
<p>Freely substitue whites with cops, person-in-charge, the authority, the landlord, any service person and society in general. </p>
<p>Black Americans are excused from bad behavior. GET IT if you haven’t yet.</p>
<p>Was he arrested on his porch or did they march him up there for a photo op? If he was banging on the doors or windows of the police car with his cane, then arrest him. If he’s venting from his porch or his sidewalk, walk away - mutter if you like, but walk away.</p>
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<p>And where do we get the information that the police was NOT satisfied with the two forms of IDs? Did the police officer not proceed to leave the house, only to be FOLLOWED by Gates?</p>
<p>Gates refused to come out of his house when asked. The police went inside and allowed him to demonstrate his identity. The police was leaving without causing Gates any harm, except the self-inflicted annoyance. Gates took him upon himself to challenge a haf-dozen cops to satisfy his ego trip and futile attempt to obtain MORE than the cop’s name. </p>
<p>Is there any doubt that he deliberately SEIZED an opportunity for publicity as the idea of a PBS racial documentary germinated in his angered mind? Is that what really happened there? </p>
<p>You see, it is NOT hard to develop different scenarios. Nobody deserved to be arrested in that sordid and stupid incident. All that was accomplished is that one of the smartest and most respected men in America embarassed himself. Also embarassing is that others seem quite willing to do the same in justifying his over-the-top actions by borrowing the “racist” narrative.</p>
<p>Fwiw, parents, just think what YOUR reaction would be if your college-attending son or daughter called you from jail and told you of an arrest for “loud and tumultuous” behavior and admitted “challenging” cops who were leaving. </p>
<p>Be honest!</p>
<p>edvest, I was about to say the same to you.</p>
<p>I’ll leave it at this, if the Prof truly feels his rights were trampled upon and the cop acted illegally or in a racist fashion, take it to court. Some of his Harvard Law buds I’m sure will be clamoring to defend him.</p>