Posted on 07/25/2009 8:37:19 AM PDT by AJKauf
I am in a sense fortunate in that I work in an area where I’m as likely to encounter an extraterrestrial as an Ivy League professor, but like most police officers I can nonetheless sympathize with Cambridge Police Department sergeant James Crowley, for whom there will be no waking from the nightmare for some time to come. But, except for the notoriety and lofty position of the reported “burglar” (one of America’s preeminent black scholars, and all that), the scenario presented to Sgt. Crowley is fairly typical, one that every cop has experienced many times. A well-meaning neighbor has seen something she perceives as out of the ordinary and has asked the police to investigate. If more people were disposed to act this way, America’s crime rate would plummet overnight.
The first question to be asked about Sgt. Crowley’s initial response is, was it lawful and reasonable? Clearly it was both. A cornerstone U.S. Supreme Court decision, Terry v. Ohio, held that an officer may stop and detain a person he reasonably believes to be involved in criminal activity. Here, Sgt. Crowley answered a citizen’s report of a possible burglary. Such reports are granted a presumption of reliability under the law, so Sgt. Crowley was on solid ground in approaching the home and, upon seeing a man inside who matched the description provided by the witness, asking him for his identification. A police officer responding to such a report must, for his own safety, assume the report to be accurate until he can satisfy himself that it isn’t. The cop who blithely handles every call assuming it to be a false alarm will likely not survive to handle many of them. ..
(Excerpt) Read more at pajamasmedia.com ...
Upper East Tennessee, Tricities. Athens is where the Spa tubs are made. I drive down I-75 to Dalton and points beyond quite regularly visiting family. Tennessee Nana is in Cleveland, TN and comes up for the gatherings.
The reaction was so unulsual, I would immediately conclude the screaming racist had soemthing he was trying to prevent being discovered. Wonder what this prick brought back from China with him? Wonder whom was using the reisdnece while he was away? Wonder what substances the racist professor indulges in? ... Officer Corwley didn’t go after any of those possibilities, he just tried to calmly make sure there was not someone else of a nefarious type in the house, as a superb officer would do to protect the citizen despite the dissonance of screaming and hollering racial slurs at him. Gates and Obama are of the same racist feather.
I work in Cleveland. I’ve talked to Tennessee Nana several times. Yes, the spa place is in Athens along the Interstate. I’m actually in a small unincorporated community just South of Athens called Riceville but nobody can find it on a map. There is nothing in Riceville so we are really a part of Athens. Small world.
I agree with you on that! I’m not blaming the neighbor. It was just hard for me to understand that not everybody knows their neighbors like we do here.
My nearest neighbor, besides my daughter that lives here on the farm, is about 1/4 mile across the road and cow pasture from me. She keeps an eye on the place when we are gone by using binoculars. My daughter bought a new car a couple of years ago and as soon as she parked it in the driveway I got a call from the neighbor asking if I knew there was a strange care in the driveway. LOL Another time we had visitors from Wisconsin that stayed with us for a week. The phone was ringing off the wall all week by people wanting to know who we knew in Wisconsin. They all saw a strange car parked in the driveway and were slowing down to take a look. Several even dropped by to meet them.
Like I said, it’s that kind of place. It’s a small town thing.
Again, don't you think a policeman has the power to arrest somebody who acts tumultuous during a police investigation?
Last year we moved into our new house — we knew the neighbors across the street, who told us they were leaving on vacation, and that Grandma could park her car in their driveway. Within 15 minutes of her parking there, the police showed up searching the block and the neighbor’s house for robbery suspects — all because a nosy neighbor called the police. My poor Mother had to walk across the street to meet with police, prompting tripping right in front of them and falling down on the pavement. Needless to say, I wasn’t too happy with that neighbor, but I had to try to see things from their point of view. It was hard, though.
Maybe he brought home some "good stuff" he wanted to share with his friend Barack...
Cambridge, MA is ground zero for Liberalism. All of that is supposed to be handled by the government.
Gates is free to sue for wrongful arrest and given the media and support from the POTUS it is likely he would win. I doubt a racist white guy getting arrested for something similar would have any sympathy from anyone outside of other racists and the black cop who arrested him would not have to fear his career would be destroyed.
In fact, it would make a pretty good book to research the top universities across the country and get stories about how the professors and administration treat the rest of the community, especially the local police when it comes to their kids.
See, that’s the problem here. We have very little law enforcement way out here in the country. The last time we needed them it took 45 minutes for them to get here. It’s a necessary way of life for us to take care of each other. We don’t always have the luxury of picking up the phone and calling 911 and expecting help in a hurry.
There are a number of threads at DummyU where some Gate’s backers have been astonished by the amount of support for Crowley. On a far-left moonbat site like DU that is nothing less than earth-shaking. The MO for leftists for all incidents like the Gates-Crowley incident is to find out who the minority person is and support him or her no matter what the facts. Even on some of the Crowley-bashing threads there were posters who disagreed. As I said very extraordinary for DummyU.
I think you'd find an interesting variance between schools like Harvard and schools like Hillsdale College.
Blacks like Gates do not want to have anything to do with their white neighbors. It does not surprise me his neighbor doesn’t know him. I have experienced this situation in my neighbor in Baton Rouge.
The police did not arrest Gates for his behavior during their investigation. If they had, they would have charged him with impeding an investigation. The police arrested Gates for spouting off his crackpot opinions after they had determined he lived there.
The police clearly had the power to arrest Gates for spouting off his crackpot ideas. And thus we do not live in a free society. What you really need to do is read Taranto’s comments on this beginning with:
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB10001424052970203946904574302304074459422.html
sub-entitled “Henry Louis Gates is not a burglar. Neither is James Taranto.”
thanks for the link.Gates’s lawyer, Charles Ogletree, represented Anita Hill
and Angela Davis among other Communists.
Ogletree taught both Barack and Michelle Obama at Harvard;
he has remained close to Mr. Obama throughout his political careerOn July 21, 2009 Professor Ogletree issued a statement in response
to the arrest of his colleague, Henry Gates, who was arrested at his own home.
Ogletree perjured himself twice in one sentence.
"skippie" was arrested
outside his Harvard provided house inciting a race riot
Ogletree is Cochair of Reparations Coordinating Committee
After Obamas first term is completed there will not be another black guy elected as president...not for a long long time anyway. What happened with Gates (specifically obamas comments) are but another nail in the politically correct coffin and Im glad to see it.
The first ammendment also forbids the state government from doing the same via the 14th ammendment according to the courts, so that point of yours is meaningless.
Face it Gates was a fool to behave in his boorish manner. The cop was a fool to be a “Cartman” cop and arrest Gates.
Hey, you got an exit off of I-75 ... Riceville Road.
No. The police did arrest Gates for his behavior during their investigation.
The police arrested Gates for spouting off his crackpot opinions after they had determined he lived there.
No. The police arrested Gates for using tumultuous language directed at the police in front of a crowd while they were in the process of completing their investigation.
The police clearly had the power to arrest Gates for spouting off his crackpot ideas. And thus we do not live in a free society.
No. The police don't have the power to arrest somebody for just spouting crackpot ideas. Yes we don't live in a free society, but the reason you give is not it.
What you really need to do is read Taranto’s comments...sub-entitled “Henry Louis Gates is not a burglar. Neither is James Taranto.”,
The subtitle is besides the point and would suggest to me an author who doesn't wish to look at this incident in its full context.
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