Sorry but Melinda in TN is not the president of the US sticking his nose in a local matter. People constantly make decisions and form opinion with the facts they have at hand. Good grief.
What was wrong was the President of the US sticking his nose in a local matter and showing his prejudice. I tend to agree with Taranto:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203517304574306162620043236.html
the cop should have left. The cop had more of a duty to act civily as he was on the job. The cop should never have arrest the prof. The prof was only a racist. That is not illegal.
The cop claimed that Gates was acting tumultuously. You don't think that Gates was acting tumultuously?
Do you think a policeman has the power to arrests somebody who act tumultuous during a police investigation?
Hey there... think about this... next time you get pulled over by a cop, or a cop mistakes you for a thief and you don’t even give the cop a chance to run through his drill and you start badmouthing him or her, and you don’t stop when they ask you to please calm down and cooperate, but you go on and on and on, let me know if you don’t get your ass hauled off to jail... go ahead, I dare ya.
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You could not be more wrong. Sgt. Crowley (the nameless 'cop' to you) is a Peace Officer. By legal standards everywhere Gates was a disorderly person who was disturbing the peace. He was given at least two 'lawful orders' to desist. He did not, he escalated. Sgt. Crowley had two choices, do his job or not. He did that for which he is paid by the good people of Cambridge.
That is the real world fact of it.