On Sat, Jul 25, 2009 at 1:50 PM, authfriend<jst...@panix.com> wrote: > Absolutely. And he should have refused. My point is > that there was no reason for Crowley to have asked > him to in the first place.
I agree > > > I'm saying Crowley *tempted* him, lured him, enticed > him into being disruptive in public so that Crowley > would have the legal justification to arrest him. I passed this by the local sheriff, whom I'm friends with. The sheriff didn't tell me what I didn't already know. Gates was cruisin' for a bruisin'. T'ain't racial profiling when there's a report of a possible break in and you ask for ID to make sure you're leaving the house in the hands of the rightful occupant or his/her designate. The black cop said Gates wasn't acting quite right, was perhaps tired from his trip. Translation: we deal with nuts all day long but Gates was acting nuttier and more aggressively than most. The laws and procedure are taught in police academy but the how to's are taught in less public venues. One how to is in getting someone who's wasting your time and ticking you off to make a fatal mistake. Getting Gates out of the house was the best way to handle this malefactor. Just let him take his rants outside then arrest him for creating a public disturbance. Standard police procedure to settle a score or speed up resolution of a problem. Crowley erred in arresting a noted black scholar with a big mouth (not that a lot of black men don't have big mouths when it comes to dealing with the law). There's the unusual turn of events of a black professor/scholar and a white blue collar guy involved here. Obama's no fool. He sized up what had gone on. Unlikely Gates lives in a rundown lean to in a rough neighborhood. I am convinced, as is my sheriff friend, that had this been a white male (Irish even better) Crowley would have been a lot more accommodating, perhaps even asking for backup to get someone to explain to Gates why this was the police doing everything possible to protect /his/ property. It's not a case of Crowley acting illegally, it's a case of Crowley acting differently than he would have with a white.
