Gates arrest.

Henry Gates, a professor at Harvard returned home from a trip to China. When he arrived at home he found that he did not have a key to get in. He and his driver proceeded to BREAk IN through a door. A neighbor saw this and called the police. When the police arrived, he did not offer his drivers license and a explanation that he had locked himself out and "thank you for watching out for my house", instead he showed his Harvard ID and started berating the cop for racial profiling etc. He turned a very simple police watching out for citizen into a black vs white incident. Our not too bright president picked up on this and had a prescripted question asked by a reporter. He went on to rant about black and hispanic profiling by police and went as far as to say that the police department was stupid. I can't believe that we have 3.5 years of this idiot left to endure.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
Since I don't have first-hand information as to what actually happened, I'm not going to rehash what other's conjecture or claim happened. What I do know from past experience is that if you say "yes sir" even if you know the officer is wrong, you'll be fine, but if you buck up knowing they are wrong, they WILL screw you. Considering they are human (high strung at that), it amazes me how very rarely they are wrong at times and that the public is supposed to bow down to them even in those times. Can you image how much better of the world would be if we could all take police training so that we would never make a bad call (or allow something so simple to escalate into this)? So that we would never contribute to a situation getting out of control (err...out of MY control)? How awesome would that be?

I'd probably be in jail as well. Based on past friends on different forces, my observation is 1/3rd are there for the right reason, 1/3rd are there only for the pay (which begs another question), and the other 3rd solely enjoy the authority it places them in (eh...not good). I've had great experiences with law (when I was in the wrong), and very poor ones (when I was in the wrong and right), and both experiences were the result of BOTH parties either working together or against each other. One side is never right all the time. Obviously I don't give them a free pass just because they wear a badge, and to be honest and accurate, I put more scrutiny on them than normal simply because the risk of catastrophe with them is greater, not if, but WHEN they make a mistake.

We all have personal viewpoints (me included) that taint what we hear. Accuracy in rehashing an interesting and captivating situation is important.

"the police department was stupid" verses "Acted stupidly"
"He went on to rant about black and hispanic" verses (conjecture) something more resembling an inappropriate statement (but this country ought to be used to that after soooooo many years of inappropriate or inaccurate statements). A rant by the way, is what has been displayed on this string thus far in the first two posts.
 
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Are you a lawyer?

Long post and I didn't understand what you were trying to say!

Really? Cause I understood it pretty well.........Oh damn! That means I understand lawyer speak. I feel so slimy now.........off to take a shower!
 
I stand corrected, "acted stupidly", the inference is the same wouldn't you agree?

Actually I wouldn't. I just had a discussion about this when my 5 year old called me for using a bad word when I said that another driver did something very "stupid". I explained to him that there is a difference between calling someone stupid, and saying they did a stupid thing.

Still think the president is not being very presidential by even addressing the matter, but he has done this with numerous issues, and while I will say that I feel it is a very stupid things for him to do, he by no means is a stupid individual.

OK, the jury may still be out on that one....:)

"Stupid is as Stupid does."
 
This is one of those situations where nobody is going to come
out clean.

I concur, Obama made a tremendous gaffe, and even with his claim that Gates
is a friend so his opinion is biased does not fix that problem.

The jury is still out on what really happened, and I cannot wait to hear the
call into the station the officer made that supposedly has Gates yelling in
the background.

But, in my mind, the biggest question really is:

The incident was reported by a neighbor at 12:44 PM - in the middle of the day.
How long has the neighbor lived there that she did not recognize him? Is he
that reclusive?

Anyway, here is a link to the police reports:

Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Police Report - July 23, 2009

Ian
 
I had heard the report(verbatem) that Ian links to. I see nothing that the officer did wrong(read stupidly). Some of the media types will do what they can to brand the officer as the faulting party. the PresBO did what we refer to as "he stepped in it".
He has setback racial relations in this country more than any repairs he may have made when he first took office. I think also he has done more to harm police/community relations than he knows. I think it really is the fault of Obama's staff to not have kept him informed of what happened and how to respond to any questions brought up about it. But then he didn't have his teleprompter handy and he has once again shown how naieve and inexperienced he is in handling impromptu questions(remember Joe the Plummer?).
I don't know about the numbers of police that was described above, but I know we need the police to help and maintain law and order. We shouldn't fear them, and as a parent I have tried to drill into my kids heads that they are really your friend and are there to help you no matter what the circumstance. I have been in confrontations where the police had to step in, or did step in to calm things down. They have never shown their derieres in a dispute. They have always shown calm and have tried to disarm the situation rather than provoke it. Prof. Gates may have just been tired and worn out from a long trip, but you don't try to provoke a police officer. You will lose every time. Like the song says, you don't tug on Superman's cape,,, You don't spit into the wind....
 

RichardH

AKA The Mad Hat Man
Interesting. I find amusing the note at the top of the incident reports - "Not for Public release".
 
I just saw the "apology" press conference. This president of ours is some piece of.........work. He can't even bring himself to say "sorry for the comment". What a lawyer!! His speech reminded me of the "depends what the definition of "is" is" BS.

Still can't believe a lawyer married to another lawyer beat a military vet, POW, who is married to a beer baroness with a great set of "puppies" to be our president.

What has happened to America? :)
 
Being the President of the United States of America, Obama should never have addressed this issue in the first place. He made something stay on the front page much longer than necessary. It puts him on the same level as Sharpton and Jackson.
 
Lots of pros and cons here,but the basic fact is as Mr Wohlstrom says: Obama should have never commented on this event. This is a local POLICE matter and should stay that way,whether the cops were overzealous or not. That man being Obama's close friend is even more reason to stay out of it.He has now jeopardized any fair treatment of either party and has helped to further polarize a whole nation already edgy waiting to see how this well worn race situation fares with a black president (He is,however,half white). Yes,I can see the homeowner's point but he exercised BAD JUDGEMENT in dealing with the police just as Obama exercised the same by making a comment on it, especially on national TV. When a cop shows up,you should be aware he has been called there to investigate something out of place or suspicious and is therefore on guard for the unexpected or violent behavior as he has been TRAINED to be.That's not excusing the officer for HIS poor judgement, just something we all know or should know about staying calm and not aggravating a potentially dangerous situation. If something was done incorrectly,the local courts will sort it out. As for lawyers,I've come up against some good human beings and the occasional slime ball from hell - just like the rest of the world,from attorneys to waitresses. Just my two cents. And I won't send ANYONE a bill. A.J.
 

Terry Oxandale

Skinny Man
I'd like to offer a decenting opinion on that. I think any leader, be it local, regional, or national, if compelled to dicsuss or comment on racial issues (or any devisive issu) that have had significant impacts on a fair percentage of people in this country (both white and black), should comment on them. If it appears (and I personally don't see this as "profiling") racial issues were involved, then it is the responsibility of any leader to speak to them. In this particlar instance, the "speak" did not have the effect that desired, but either way, observing a situation take place that reflects a national problem, and not commenting on it, is negligence in my opinion.

In regards to "local courts will sort it out", this is a joke (IMHO as well). Rarely will anyone win using this format against "City Hall), and in those rare cases that someone does win, guess what, you and I still pay for that poor performance or judgement of the police.
 
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