Obama’s Close Friend Henry Louis Gates Jr.: President’s Statement Gives Cop Ammo in Possible Lawsuit

“I have to tell you that, as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation. And I told him that.”
President Barack Obama on Officer Crowley, White House Press Briefing, July 24, 2009

There once was a man named Skip Gates, a close friend of the President of the United States, whose front door was damaged after someone tried to break in. For some reason the door wasn’t fixed, or fixed improperly. Either way, when the man-who was aware of the prior break in attempt-returned from a trip to China, he had a hard time getting the door open. The man was arrested after a neighbor spotted him trying to pry open the door then called the police. Charged with disorderly conduct, the man claimed he was racially profiled. The disorderly conduct charges were dropped but the man filed a civil lawsuit. The President was subpoenaed to testify as a character witness on behalf of the arresting officer.

While part of this tale has already occurred and is essentially true, the probability of a lawsuit being filed by the man who was arrested is “less than zero”. That is, if you believe the police report and a recent statement made by President Obama and his opinion regarding the arresting officer.

Info from the Cambridge Police Report:

Shortly before 1 p.m. on July 16, Cambridge, Massachusetts police responded to the report of a “break in” in progress at a local residence on Ware St. The officer who responded was in the process of heading up the front steps of the residence when a woman on a sidewalk-a nearby neighbor-called out. She held up a cellphone and stated that she was the one who reported the attempted break-in after seeing one of two black males appearing to use his shoulder to “force” the front door in. The officer observed an older man standing “inside the foyer” through the glass panes of the front door. The officer asked the man to “step outside” and “speak” with the officer. The man allegedly replied “no I will not” then demanded to know who the officer was. The officer told the man that he was “Sgt. Crowley from the Cambridge Police” and that he was “investigating a report of a break in in progress”. According to Officer Crowley, the man opened the door then “exclaimed “why, because I’m a black man in America?”. The officer then asked if there were anyone else in the residence. The man allegedly yelled that it was “none” of the officer’s “business” and that the officer was “racist”. The man then picked up a cordless phone and dialed a number. The officer overheard the man tell the person on the phone to “get the chief” or “what’s the chief’s name?”. The man was also overheard saying “I’m dealing with a racist police officer” in his home. The man then turned to the officer and stated the officer “had no idea who he was dealing with” and that the officer “had not heard the ‘last of it’”. The officer asked the man for identification in order to verify the man was the owner of the residence. The man initially refused then supplied a Harvard University Identification card. The officer radioed for the Harvard University police then prepared to leave. The man demanded once again for the Officer’s name. While the officer tried to respond the man continued to yell at him, accusing the officer of being “racist” and that the man “wasn’t someone to mess with”. The officer then told the man that if he wanted any more answers he had to follow the officer outside. The man responded: “ya, I’ll speak with your momma outside”.

The man was arrested for disorderly conduct after allegedly following Sgt. Crowley outside of his residence, accusing Crowley of racial bias and threatening that Crowley “hadn’t heard the last of him”. At the time the man was arrested there were several responding police officers on the scene as well as people who had gathered outside on the sidewalk.

The above info was gleaned from the actual police report filed by Officer Crowley and by a second officer who arrived in time to hear the man stating he wouldn’t show his identification and the man yelling at Crowley that Crowley was “racist” and that “this is what happens to black men in America” as well as “you don’t know who you’re messing with”.

“You don’t know who you’re messing with!”

The public found out just who the man who allegedly spoke these words to Officer Crowley was during last Wednesday’s Presidential press conference. President Obama, responding to the last question asked by reporters, remarked that the man was his “friend”, “Skip Gates”.

“THE PRESIDENT: Well, I should say at the outset that “Skip” Gates is a friend, so I may be a little biased here. I don’t know all the facts. What’s been reported, though, is that the guy forgot his keys, jimmied his way to get into the house, there was a report called into the police station that there might be a burglary taking place — so far, so good, right? I mean, if I was trying to jigger into — well, I guess this is my house now so — (laughter) — it probably wouldn’t happen. But let’s say my old house in Chicago — (laughter) — here I’d get shot. (Laughter.)

But so far, so good. They’re reporting — the police are doing what they should. There’s a call, they go investigate what happens. My understanding is at that point Professor Gates is already in his house. The police officer comes in, I’m sure there’s some exchange of words, but my understanding is, is that Professor Gates then shows his ID to show that this is his house. And at that point, he gets arrested for disorderly conduct — charges which are later dropped.

Now, I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that, but I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge Police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.”

Even though Obama, an attorney, stated that he “didn’t know all the facts” about Gates’ arrest, he did state this about the case:

-”number one, “any of us would be angry”,

-”number two, the Cambridge Police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home”, and

-”number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there is a long history in this country of African Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact”.

“Skip” Gates is 58-yr-old Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Harvard Law Professor, and African-American scholar. During an interview held on July 21 at Gates’ second home on Martha’s Vineyard-President Obama and his family have opted to stay at the Blue Heron Farm estate on Martha’s Vineyard for an upcoming “two-week getaway“-Gates claimed that he “never yelled at the officer” other than “demanding” the officer’s name and badge number which the officer allegedly refused to divulged.

“I believe the police officer should apologize to me for what he knows he did that was wrong,” Gates said in a phone interview from his other home in Martha’s Vineyard. “If he apologizes sincerely, I am willing to forgive him. And if he admits his error, I am willing to educate him about the history of racism in America and the issue of racial profiling … That’s what I do for a living.”

As for the police report, Gates gave an alternative explanation:

“The police report is full of this man’s broad imagination,” Gates said in response to a question on whether he had said any of the quotes in the report. “I said, ‘Are you not giving me your name and badge number because I’m a black man in America?’ . . . He treated my request with scorn. . . I was suffering from a bronchial infection. I couldn’t have yelled. . . I don’t walk around calling white people racist.”

Gates also stated he was going to work on a documentary about racial profiling.

During a July 23 interview with the Boston Globe, Officer Crowley stated he wasn’t a “racist” and “wouldn’t apologize” to Gates. The public also learned that Crowley led his “colleagues in diversity training” and that Crowley’s police department, union, and co-workers defended Crowley as being a standup cop in the area of racial sensitivity.

What wasn’t reported was the reason why Gates and his still unnamed male companion had a hard time getting Gate’s front door open.

Gates had spent “much of the summer away from home” working on a documentary, “Faces of America,” and had just flown in from China. It was from the Cambridge Police report that Gates told Officer Crowley that the door was “un securable” due a “previous break in at the residence”. The information was obtained after Gates was arrested and Crowley noted that the professor’s front door was “left wide open”. Crowley asked Gates if he was “comfortable with having a Harvard maintenance man securing his residence”. It was then that Gates supplied the info that a prior break-in attempt had occurred.

“Because of the capricious whim of one disturbed person . . . I am now a black man with a prison record,” Gates said. “You can look at my mug shot on the Internet.”
Boston Globe interview

Gates stated that Crowley was “disturbed” and that Gates was now a “black man with a prison record.” This statement was made after the Cambridge Police dropped the disorderly charge and after Gates’ attorney attended a press conference where a statement was issued. The statement, issued in conjunction with the police department, Gates, and Gates’ attorney stated that the July 16 incident was “regrettable” and “unfortunate”. The statement also included this:

“this incident should not be viewed as one that demeans the character and reputation of Professor Gates or the character of the Cambridge Police Department” and that “all parties agree this is a just resolution to an unfortunate set of circumstances.”

The resolution included dropping the disorderly charges against Gates.

Even though Gates agreed that this was a “just” resolution and that the incident “shouldn’t be viewed as one that demeans the character of the Cambridge Police Department”, Gates continued to malign Officer Crowley:

“In an interview Tuesday, Mr. Gates said the situation “shows our vulnerability to the caprices of individual police officers who for whatever reason are free to arrest you on outrageous charges like disorderly conduct.” Mr. Gates called a police report alleging he yelled at an officer and was uncooperative “a work of sheer fantasy.”

Mr. Gates, a Harvard professor and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research, said he hadn’t decided whether to pursue any legal action. He said if the officer who arrested him, Sgt. James Crowley, “sincerely apologized, I would be willing to forgive him.”

On July 24, Obama appeared at a daily White House press briefing where he stated that he wanted to “address the media frenzy” surrounding his prior remarks regarding the Gates incident.

“The fact that it has garnered so much attention, I think, is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America,” The President said, “And, you know, so to the extent that my choice of words didn’t illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate.”

“I want to make clear that in my choice of words, I think, I unfortunately, I think, gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge police department or Sergeant Crowley specifically. And I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.”

Obama also spoke about Officer Crowley and a phone conversation the two had:

“I have to tell you that, as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation. And I told him that.”

Later that day there was a response to Obama’s remarks by Gates’ attorney:

“Late today, Gates’ attorney, Charles Ogletree, told ABC News that his client was “relieved and excited” by the president’s telephone outreach.

“It’s going to bring together not only the parties to this particular episode but a larger community dialogue about how citizens and police can have more productive and effective exchanges,” Ogletree said.”

I agree with Gates’ attorney in that there should be a “dialogue” but not the type of dialogue “envisioned” by Gates. The dialogue should center on people attempting to intimidate police officers responding to a possible crime scene with threats of “racism”, telling the police, “you don’t know who you’re messing with”, calling up friends in high places while the telling the police, “you haven’t heard the last of it”.

As for a lawsuit filed by Gates, he would have to pony up phone records which would reveal just who it was he called shortly after Crowley arrived. There would also be cooberating evidence by cops who were on the scene as well as bystanders outside. He’d also have to explain why it was that his “good friend”, President Obama, stated to the public, via a news conference on July 24, eight days after Gates’ arrest, that in his (Obama’s) mind, the cop who arrested Gates was “an outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation”.
Having the president of the United States give you a good character reference well before a civil lawsuit doesn’t bode well for Gates.

By LBG

Image – Henry Louis Gates, Jr.

Tags: apology, break-in, Cambridge Police Department, Harward Law Professor, Henry Louis Gates, Jr., lawsuit, Officer Crowley, police report, President Barack Obama, racial profiling, racism, White House press briefing