Aimiel's SPOTD from CattyFan!!!

[Aimiel]

Let's try dealing in some facts, shall we?

I live just South of Boston, so I’ve heard more (local) coverage on this than I ever really wanted to. I’ve heard interviews with the actual people involved, heard the news conferences (including the one with the police chief,) and have read the reports not just by the police but the statement from the neighbors. Here are a few details about which you might not be aware:

**This event actually happened last week, and the charges had already been dropped when Prof. Skippy Gates took the story to the media. (It isn’t unusual for charges to be lessened or dropped, especially if an arrested person has no priors.)

**Gates’ home had been burglarized recently, so neighbors were on the alert about unusual things. And Gates had been away from home. The neighbors may not have been aware he had returned from his time away.

**Gates was with his driver when he was breaking into his own home, so to the neighbor who called it in, it looked like there were two men trying to burglarize the home, subsequently breaking the front door.

**Gates initially refused to provide his ID….then gave the officer his Harvard ID (which doesn’t list his address.) He became hostile when asked for further ID.

**The police HAVE TO follow up on calls. The initial report said two men. The police needed to determine who the second man was, and where he went…in part, to insure that Gates, too, was safe, and that there was no one in the house who shouldn’t be there. (Gates was furthered angered when asked about who else may be in the house.) Also, even if his ID gave that as his address, it’s standard procedure in ALL police responses to run the names and address of EVERYONE involved to make sure there are no outstanding warrants for anyone, and to make sure there are no orders of protection prohibiting someone to be at an address. This can be problematic in domestic abuse cases, where a husband’s ID may say he lives there, but he is not supposed to be on the property.

**Sgt. Crowley taught for five years at the police academy. His area of expertise? Preventing racial profiling. He was appointed to that position by a black superior. He has a spotless record, and numerous commendations.

**Crowley was accompanied by a black officer and a Hispanic officer. They are backing his version of what happened.

**Crowley stepped onto the porch as he tried to report by radio what was happening at the call (standard procedure.) Gates, who had been yelling inside the house, followed Crowley out on the porch to continue yelling. Gates was twice warned that his behavior was disorderly.

**Gates, by his own admission, in his own words, “got in the face” of officer Crowley.

**Gates was then arrested on a charge of disorderly conduct. He was hand-cuffed…also standard procedure.

**Gates has built his career on racism. It is his bread and butter. Without it he, like Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, will be rendered irrelevant. THAT’S why he’s made such a big deal about this.

By the way, there should be audio coming. There will be the 911 calls and the radio transmissions released (rumor is you can hear Gates in the background on these,) plus a neighbor has still photos showing Gates screaming at the officers. You’ll probably see/hear those in the next week or so.

If Gates had done as we are taught as children, and been respectful of an authority figure (a police officer,) and answered the questions as a normal person would, this would never have happened. He deserved to be arrested, and they should have prosecuted him.

Excellent post. This really did get out-of-hand for no reason at all. Thank you!!! :thumb:

:first:

See original thread HERE.

 

[Aimiel]

bump :jump:

 

[cattyfan]

Thank you.

It shocks me how many people here want to disregard the facts of the case in favor of shouting racism and putting false blame on a police officer. Would we be having this discussion if the black officer (who was there with Crowley) had made the arrest? What if Crowley was black and Gates was white?

Gates is the racist, and he deserved to be arrested for his behavior.

 

[Aimiel]

He is indeed, and the militant 'in-your-face' racist on any side of the fence needs to be arrested. It isn't a black / white thing, it's a deep seated hatred of one's fellow man, no matter what difference Satan might be trying to magnify with emotional nonsense that becomes the problem. I have a neighbor who hates me, because I own the driveway that he's allowed to drive across to get to his own drive (a very small parking spot in front of his garage which is on the side and in the basement of his home). He hates the fact that, after repeatedly asking him politely not to park in my driveway I called the police on him. They told him that if he even leaves just his front wheels in my driveway, he'll get a ticket. He had been parking in my turn-around, rendering it useless to me. I put up with it for about six months, but when it became an every day thing, I spoke up. I didn't get in his face or yell, I simply had the police straighten out the matter.