Harvard professor
But he broke into a house. Then got angry, loud, and was arrested. That sounds legit... if I were a police officer at the scene of a break-in and there was one guy fitting the description, and the suspect was resisting arrest, I would probably arrest him.
But there are several matters complicating the story; and there appears to have been evidence that Mr. Gates proved his residence there with a state and university ID (although this article says he initially resisted that request). Supposedly, Mr. Gates' driver was out in front of the house... an odd juxtaposition for a Harvard academic.
The Cambridge police are calling the incident "regrettable and unfortunate." The officer should simply apologize and end it. Why is he refusing to apologize? Possibly because Mr. Gates offended him personally.
I doubt the refusal to apologize is solely due to Gates being Black. But the situation (officer approaching the house, resolving the dispute, hauling him off to jail with a trumped-up charge) would probably have gone another way were Mr. Gates to be a "Dr." Gates or white.
2 comments:
Obama made the front page of the nytimes with his two responses to this incident. pretty interesting stuff.
Ben,
Interesting post.
The more I read about this, the more I think this is a case of cop/citizen vs. white/black. Dr. Gates probably mouthed-off to the cop, who decided (wrongly) to arrest him in retaliation.
As soon as the officer saw that Gates was the owner, he should have left.
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