Obama: Cambridge police

[Insein]

http://www.myfoxboston.com/dpp/news/local/obama_cambridge_police_acted_stupidly_072209


Obama: Cambridge police
acted stupidly
Updated: Thursday, 23 Jul 2009, 7:43 AM EDT
Published : Wednesday, 22 Jul 2009, 9:15 PM EDT

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said Wednesday that police acted "stupidly" in the arrest of prominent black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and that despite racial progress blacks and Hispanics are still singled out unfairly for arrest.

Watch the full comment on the left, and give us your thoughts here

"This still haunts us," Obama said.

Obama called Gates a friend, and said he doesn't know all the facts of the case. Nonetheless, Obama said, anyone would have been angry if treated the way Gates claims police in Cambridge, Mass., treated him. Gates claims he was arrested in his own home after showing ID to police who responded to a report of a possible burglary.

Police say Gates yelled at the officers and initially refused to show his ID. Gates allegedly yelled “this is what happens to a black man in America” and “you don’t know who you’re messing with” before he was arrested, and police said he was uncooperative. ( read the arrest report )

"Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in own home," Obama said during a prime-time news conference that otherwise focused on the health care debate.

"What I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there's a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately," Obama said. "That's just a fact."

The nation's first black president held himself up as testament to what he called the "incredible progress" minorities have achieved.

Gates' arrest followed a report of a possible burglary. A neighbor apparently saw Gates force the front door and called in a police report. Police came, and demanded that Gates showed identification. Gates was arrested shortly afterward for disorderly conduct, a charge that was dropped Tuesday.


Glad the president is trying to fix those relations. :rolleyes:

[Insein]

Here is the incident.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/23/officer_at_eye_of_storm_says_he_wont_apologize/?page=2


Sergeant at eye of storm says he won't apologize
“I am not a racist,’’ said police Sergeant James Crowley .

Globe Staff / July 23, 2009

Sending your articleYour article has been sent. Email| Print| Reprints| Yahoo! Buzz| ShareThisText size – + This story was reported by Jonathan Saltzman, John R. Ellement, and Erica Noonan of the Globe Staff. It was written by Saltzman.

When Sergeant James M. Crowley climbed the front steps of Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s house last week and unexpectedly placed himself in international headlines, it was not the first time he had a memorable encounter in the line of duty with a prominent black man. Nearly 16 years ago, as a Brandeis University police officer, Crowley desperately tried to save the life of Reggie Lewis after the Boston Celtics star collapsed while practicing in the school gym.

“It bothers him terribly that he couldn’t save him,’’ Crowley’s 74-year-old mother, Verina Crowley, said yesterday, speaking of her son and the famous basketball player.

Yesterday, as President Obama condemned the Cambridge Police Department during a prime-time White House news conference and Crowley steadfastly refused to issue the apol ogy that Gates has sought, a fuller picture began to emerge of the 42-year-old sergeant who arrested the Harvard scholar last week on a charge of disorderly conduct on the porch of Gates’s Cambridge house.

Crowley was a certified emergency medical technician when he performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Lewis, to no avail, after the player’s heart stopped on July 27, 1993. In a Globe interview later that day, Crowley said he rushed to the university’s Shapiro Gymnasium, confirmed that Lewis had no pulse, and frantically tried to revive him.

“I just kept on going,’’ he said. “I just kept thinking, ‘Don’t let him die - just don’t die.’ ’’

Now, 16 years later, he stands accused of racism by Gates, one of the foremost scholars on race in America. Gates had just arrived home to his Cambridge house from a trip abroad to find his front door stuck shut. As he and the driver who brought him from the airport tried to push it open, a passerby called police with a report of a possible break-in. Crowley arrived and demanded that Gates, now inside, show him identification. Crowley’s police report said Gates behaved belligerently when he questioned him, which Gates denied. Authorities dropped the charge Tuesday after it ignited accusations of racism.

But people who know Crowley were skeptical or outright dismissive of allegations of racism. A prominent defense lawyer, a neighbor of Crowley’s, his union, and fellow officers described him yesterday as a respected, and respectful, officer who performs his job well and has led his colleagues in diversity training.

“He’s evenhanded and, in the cases I’ve had with him, he’s been very much in control and very professional,’’ said Joseph W. Monahan III, a criminal defense lawyer in Cambridge and former Middlesex County prosecutor. Monahan has represented several defendants arrested by Crowley for domestic assaults and for drunken driving.

Crowley himself, speaking to the Globe yesterday and again last night in Natick, said he will not apologize and asserted, “I am not a racist.’’

Crowley’s police union issued a statement saying it had reviewed the arrest of Gates and expressed “full and unqualified support’’ for his actions.

“Sergeant Crowley is a highly respected veteran supervisor with a distinguished record in the Cambridge Police Department,’’ said the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association. “His actions at the scene of this matter were consistent with his training, with the informed policies and practices of the Department, and with applicable legal standards.’’

The city’s Police Review and Advisory Board, which is independent of the Police Department, has set a meeting July 29 to decide whether to launch a formal inquiry into the incident, according to board investigator Joseph Johnson. He said Gates had not filed a complaint with the board and that no one has filed a complaint against Crowley in the last 12 months.

Crowley, during one of the interviews outside his South Natick home, said he was not authorized to discuss the controversy.

“As much as I’d like to respond, I really can’t,’’ said the married father of three, who coaches youth basketball and plays on a local softball team.

His neighbor Ed Shagory, a retired lawyer, was less reticent. He said he has been friends with Crowley for more than 17 years, and “I think the world of him and his family.’’

Shagory said he was upset by the criticism leveled against the officer and questioned Gates’s statement that the confrontation had inspired the Harvard professor to consider making a documentary about racial profiling.

“I think the idea of him already planning a documentary is very premature, and a very unnecessary thing to say before all the facts are even in,’’ Shagory said.

Crowley joined Cambridge police around 1998, according to Sergeant James DeFrancesco, an aide to police Commissioner Robert C. Haas, who was unavailable for comment.

Verina Crowley said James is the third of her four sons, all in law enforcement. Two brothers, Jack and Joseph, also work for the Cambridge police. The fourth, Daniel, is a Middlesex County deputy sheriff.

Verina Crowley said her sons were raised mostly in the Fresh Pond neighborhood where she still lives, attended racially diverse Cambridge public schools, and graduated from Cambridge Rindge and Latin High School, where she worked for 26 years.

“He is not a racist,’’ she said in the hallway of her home. And Gates “is not the first black person he ever met in his life.’’

Her children, she said, had black friends over to their home while growing up. James Crowley is still friends with one of those youngsters, now a Cambridge firefighter, she said.

“They grew up with black kids, white kids, kids who didn’t have parents, kids who had two parents - everything you can think of,’’ she recalled. Tolerance “wasn’t something you taught,’’ she said. “You just lived it.’’

Her son, she said, remains haunted by the events of that summer day, nearly 16 years ago, when as a Brandeis police officer he was dispatched to the college gym to help an unconscious man - who turned out to be Lewis.

After confirming that the Celtics guard had no pulse, Crowley and another officer began performing CPR, according to an account in the Globe.

“My immediate indication was that I thought he was dead,’’ Crowley said at the time. An ambulance arrived and took Lewis to Waltham-Weston Hospital, but he could not be revived.

Yesterday, more than a dozen Cambridge police officers working at Harvard and Central squares declined to comment for attribution about the controversy.

But several officers, all of them white, described Crowley as a well-liked officer, and one dismissed the allegations of racism.

That officer, who insisted on anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to reporters, said, “Racism is not part of it, and that is what is frustrating. The fact that the Police Department dropped the charges makes the police officer look like he is wrong.’’

[namvet]

if the guy is white it doesn't make the news.

[Gaffer]

Step 1. Begin to drive a wedge between the black's and hispanic's and other minority groups (also known as muslims) and the individual police agencies. Use as many rich and power black faces as possible in incidents similar to above.

Step2. Establish community out reach committees within the cities that can control the police and handle all complaints about the police. There will be a huge increase in complaints over the coming year.

Step 3. Establishment of civilian defense groups in each city. These will work in conjunction with local police as "unarmed" observers and patrol areas of high racial problems.

Anyone NOT see where this is going?

[stephanie]

the little Marxist community organizer is so over his pay grade it's becoming laughable.... if it wasn't for the radical ideals he is trying to force on us..

this idiot has to be muzzled.........and soon.

[namvet]

and in the press conf yesterday he takes the time to scold us whites. shame on us.

[emmett]

Hmmm....lets see here. You live in the neighborhood where Gates lives and you don't know who he is. You call the police when you see a supposed break in. Sounds fishy already. Staged?

Then the President of the United States mentions the event during a prime time news conference later the day you are released.


Hmmm.....


The racist is Gates for sure.

[Little-Acorn]

I need to get a few things straight, too. Let me see if I've got this right:

There's an incident where cops got a 911 call about a guy apparently breaking into a home. They go there, find the guy inside the house, and they say he is abusive and nonresponsive to them, yelling about race and saying "you don't know who you're messing with".

The guy says he lives there (turns out true), and says he was never abusive or nonresponsive. He says the police were racially motivated.

And then the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, who admits he doesn't know the details of the case (it's likely he hasn't talked to either party), goes on national TV and announces that the guy was right, and the cops were not only wrong but "stupid"?

I can't recall when I've ever heard a Presidential announcement like that, on so little evidence. Even Nixon never made one quite that, ummm, "out-front", though he came the closest in my memory.

And this President wants to run our banks, car companies, and health care... for starters? How long would it take for him to decide *I* was "not only wrong but stupid" if I have a dispute with a car repairman or doctor?

I don't have the visibility this other guy does, of course... but that's exactly the point. Obama wouldn't know my details any more than he knows this guy's details. Where does he get off stating AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES that the subject of an incident is right and the cops "acted stupidly"?

The President's job is to make sure US laws are followed. Tell me again how he has accomplished that here???

[namvet]

that's about it Acorn. except Sharpton and Jackson are now enroute to the scene of the crime

[Trigg]

Does bambam have nothing better to do than stick his nose into things he knows NOTHING ABOUT???

What President goes on national television and, after stating he doesn't know all the facts, picks sides.

I'm glad he's going to continue to "advance" race relations. Hey folks, I don't know all the facts, but the black guy must be in the right. Great start bambam.

[namvet]

Does bambam have nothing better to do than stick his nose into things he knows NOTHING ABOUT???

What President goes on national television and, after stating he doesn't know all the facts, picks sides.

I'm glad he's going to continue to "advance" race relations. Hey folks, I don't know all the facts, but the black guy must be in the right. Great start bambam.

wait till you see his finish :coffee:

[Trigg]

Here is a good video of the police officers response. He makes some good points and gets a few jabs in at the professer.

http://wbztv.com/local/obama.comment.cambridge.2.1097782.html

I wanted to add that if you read the police report there is an additional page from one of those latinos bambam was talking about. The hispanic police officer backs up the arresting officers statement.


http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates3.html

From the police report that guy was looking for a fight from the beginning. Personally if I had the same type of encounter I'd be happy they responded so quickly. The guy's an ass, he even admits in the police report to previous breakins at his residence, maybe they should just ignor future calls to his house.

[Insein]

I need to get a few things straight, too. Let me see if I've got this right:

There's an incident where cops got a 911 call about a guy apparently breaking into a home. They go there, find the guy inside the house, and they say he is abusive and nonresponsive to them, yelling about race and saying "you don't know who you're messing with".

The guy says he lives there (turns out true), and says he was never abusive or nonresponsive. He says the police were racially motivated.

And then the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, who admits he doesn't know the details of the case (it's likely he hasn't talked to either party), goes on national TV and announces that the guy was right, and the cops were not only wrong but "stupid"?

I can't recall when I've ever heard a Presidential announcement like that, on so little evidence. Even Nixon never made one quite that, ummm, "out-front", though he came the closest in my memory.

And this President wants to run our banks, car companies, and health care... for starters? How long would it take for him to decide *I* was "not only wrong but stupid" if I have a dispute with a car repairman or doctor?

I don't have the visibility this other guy does, of course... but that's exactly the point. Obama wouldn't know my details any more than he knows this guy's details. Where does he get off stating AS PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES that the subject of an incident is right and the cops "acted stupidly"?

The President's job is to make sure US laws are followed. Tell me again how he has accomplished that here???

I believe the President commented because he personally knew the professor. IT sounds like the guy thinks he's some kind of big shot. He apparently said he knew Oprah to try and stop the cops.

[namvet]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybyhFfqTpeE



Crowley's statement has been removed

[Trigg]

Got this off of MSNBC. I'm surprised they didn't crop the black officer out of the picture.

With black and hispanic officers involved in the arrest, it's going to be hard to make the racist label stick.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32050342/displaymode/1176/rstry/32077998/

[namvet]

Got this off of MSNBC. I'm surprised they didn't crop the black officer out of the picture.

With black and hispanic officers involved in the arrest, it's going to be hard to make the racist label stick.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32050342/displaymode/1176/rstry/32077998/

your link says "We couldn't find any related photos."

[namvet]

Crowley's statement:

link (link)

[Gaffer]

It's all part of the larger agenda.

[Little-Acorn]

Now Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs says that Obama didn't say what he said.

"Let me be clear, he was not calling the officer stupid," Gibbs told reporters.....

What Obama actually said: "Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in own home," Obama said during a prime-time news conference....

Ummm...

Yes, he DID call the police officer stupid. Only one officer arrested the man. Or was Obama referring to the meter reader outside, as "acting stupidly"?

And people wonder why fewer and fewer people believe what Obama (or his minions) say?

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D99K9Q001&show_article=1

[gabosaurus]

After reading more about the situation, I thought Obama's comments about the Cambridge police shooting were way out of line.
Obviously, Obama and the victim are close friends. Obama responded as any friend would do.
But Obama needs to consider that he is not merely a friend, but the President of the United States. It was not his place to make a comment about a situation that has not been resolved.
Even though some of Obama's comments had merit, they should not have been made in that situation.

[Little-Acorn]

I can clear up the confusion here.

That wasn't Obama in the press conference saying "The Cambridge police acted stupidly".

It was a quick cut to the Reverend Jeremiah Wright. You just didn't notice the change in scenery, the camera changed so fast.

And to liberals, to whom all those people look alike, they didn't notice it either.

That's what Robert Gibbs meant when he said Obama had not called the officer stupid. It just took him several hours, and a lot of research, to spot the difference.

[gabosaurus]

Spoken as a person with a political axe to grind. As opposed to someone looking at the situation impartially.

[Little-Acorn]

Police say Gates yelled at the officers and initially refused to show his ID. Gates allegedly yelled “this is what happens to a black man in America” and “you don’t know who you’re messing with” before he was arrested, and police said he was uncooperative. ( read the arrest report )

"Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof he was in own home," Obama said
Spoken as a person with a political axe to grind. As opposed to someone looking at the situation impartially.

I couldn't agree more.

[Insein]

After reading more about the situation, I thought Obama's comments about the Cambridge police shooting were way out of line.
Obviously, Obama and the victim are close friends. Obama responded as any friend would do.
But Obama needs to consider that he is not merely a friend, but the President of the United States. It was not his place to make a comment about a situation that has not been resolved.
Even though some of Obama's comments had merit, they should not have been made in that situation.


Would you agree then that Obama's comments in this situation do more harm to race relations in this country then help?

[Little-Acorn]

How must the President regard the people of America, that he can simply announce that he didn't say something that the entire country heard him say? And expect people to accept it?

Clearly, it's not only the Cambridge police that he considers stupid.

[Trigg]

your link says "We couldn't find any related photos."

I can still pull up a photo of the man in handcuffs with a black officer in front. Are you got getting that photo?

[Trigg]

After reading more about the situation, I thought Obama's comments about the Cambridge police shooting were way out of line.
Obviously, Obama and the victim are close friends. Obama responded as any friend would do.
But Obama needs to consider that he is not merely a friend, but the President of the United States. It was not his place to make a comment about a situation that has not been resolved.
Even though some of Obama's comments had merit, they should not have been made in that situation.


Agreed.

He should simply have said. I don't have the facts on that case, and let the matter drop.

[Kathianne]

Step 1. Begin to drive a wedge between the black's and hispanic's and other minority groups (also known as muslims) and the individual police agencies. Use as many rich and power black faces as possible in incidents similar to above.

Step2. Establish community out reach committees within the cities that can control the police and handle all complaints about the police. There will be a huge increase in complaints over the coming year.

Step 3. Establishment of civilian defense groups in each city. These will work in conjunction with local police as "unarmed" observers and patrol areas of high racial problems.

Anyone NOT see where this is going?

Lucky for the white officer, he was picked to teach a 'racial profiling' class at the academy, by his black boss:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_harvard_scholar_arresting_officer


Cop who arrested black scholar is profiling expert

By DENISE LAVOIE, Associated Press Writer
23 mins ago

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The white police sergeant accused of racial profiling after he arrested renowned black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his home was hand-picked by a black police commissioner to teach recruits about avoiding racial profiling.

Friends and fellow officers — black and white — say Sgt. James Crowley is a principled cop and family man who is being unfairly described as racist.
"If people are looking for a guy who's abusive or arrogant, they got the wrong guy," said Andy Meyer, of Natick, who has vacationed with Crowley, coached youth sports with him and is his teammate on a men's softball team. "This is not a racist, rogue cop. This is a fine, upstanding man. And if every cop in the world were like him, it would be a better place."...

[namvet]

I can still pull up a photo of the man in handcuffs with a black officer in front. Are you got getting that photo?

nope. now it says We cannot find the page you requested.
Error 404
The link you followed may be broken or expired. Please try your link again, or take a look at our homepage for today's top news. Below you can find today's most e-mailed and most viewed stories.

no big deal though

[REDWHITEBLUE2]

I believe the President commented because he personally knew the professor. IT sounds like the guy thinks he's some kind of big shot. He apparently said he knew Oprah to try and stop the cops.

no big surprise here obama seems to know a lot of black Racists

[emmett]

Barry is an asshole

[emmett]

You know it's funny how some things just slip through the cracks. White people are stopped all the time by black officers and in situations where they play authoritarian asshole but Mr. President did not mention it.

As a "longhaired" white guy, I have worked in the streets for years as a repo man as is known on here. I have been stopped and harassed more times than I can count. More times than not it is black officers who orchestrate these stops frankly. My license has been called in to the county radios around Atlanta the dispatchers actually come back and reply without running the request for the officers. I would estimate no less than 300 times in 20 some odd years. I have had vehicles searched, been held for hours of total time and forced to hear almost interrogation style questioning simpoly because I was out riding in a bad neighborhood. It's my job. I have to tell you that I get way way rougher treatment out of the black officers than the white ones.

That said......there were three police officers at the scene mentioned at the subject of this thread. One black, One Hispanic and the white cop who has taken the brunt of this story. What is this? The problem is that the white cop has been shown to be as far from a racist as can be proved. The man has for 10 years been the instructor for the department on how NOT TO BE A RACIST police officer. He was assigned this responsiobility by a BLACK commander with the department. Looks like Obama shot off that trap before his lamestream media press crew did their damn homework. They were so anxious to sink their teeth into a white bad boy news story that they didn;t even care to investigate the "truth".

Another point is to mention that prior to the news conference, which was not even in reference to this subject, President Obama requested to be asked about this incident. How tacky! Barry is a racist, clear and simple. And ......."stupid." Stupid is as stupid does I would say.

I'm getting a little tired of being the pawn in this country. As a white man I am expected to be "equal" to my fellow man. Yet, I cannot be promoted fairly, I cannot be hired as easily, loaned money to as frequently based on ratio of numbers, I can't complain or I'm a racist. I have offered the highest number of ratio of death in battle, started more businesses which employ other with my hard saved money and frankly made more of of a tax contribution than any other segment of the population but yet i am always the bad guy whenever it suits the "others." Even my President can't wait to mark me a racist as soon as he can without even knowing what the hell happened in a matter where a black guy simply acted like a complete asshole because he knew he could scream the race card.

As a white male I am now the opressed in this country. That is what it all boils down to actually and that is that!


I'm done.

[namvet]

and now the son of a bitch has pissed off cops nationwide. which is excellent !!!!!! the more armed enemies we have will help ensure this civil war begins !!!! now we just need the military


BOSTON — Many police officers across the country have a message for President Barack Obama Get all the facts before criticizing one of our own. Obama's public criticism that Cambridge officers "acted stupidly" when they arrested black Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. could make it harder for police to work with people of color, some officers said Thursday.



source (source)

[Nukeman]

nope. now it says We cannot find the page you requested.
Error 404
The link you followed may be broken or expired. Please try your link again, or take a look at our homepage for today's top news. Below you can find today's most e-mailed and most viewed stories.

no big deal though
I don't have any problem with her link on 3 different computers.... maybe its your service or computer!!!

[stephanie]

We've got a little high school egotistical man-boy Marxist running our country..

what an embarrassment...I'll take a rough and tumble stuttering cowboy who at least loves their country than this classless numb skull...

[namvet]

Cambridge Police Unit Demands Apology From Obama for 'Stupidly' Remark

source (source)

[Trigg]

The funny thing is bambam can't seem to figure out why the media is blowing this thing all out of proportion............idiot.

Maybe next time he'll keep his oppinions to himself until he gets all the facts.

[stephanie]

Maybe next time he'll keep his oppinions to himself until he gets all the facts.

I wouldn't count on that...the little Marxist "believes" he is the smartest man in the world and we all really really want his oponion on everthing.

[Binky]

the little Marxist community organizer is so over his pay grade it's becoming laughable.... if it wasn't for the radical ideals he is trying to force on us..

this idiot has to be muzzled.........and soon.


Who do you think should do the muzzling? Are you up for it?

[Binky]

First of all, it doesn't matter what color you are, what size pants you put on, what trype of vehicle you drive or how damn smart you think you are.....if you open your mouth and start yellin' at the cops, then that is the proverbial foot you just shoved into your mouth....now that would seriously be a stupid thing to do.

Secondly, what I keep coming back to, is why in the hell weren't the cops smart enough to look for pictures hangin' on a wall or sittin' on the boob tube or somewhere, showing that man in them? It seems to me, since they didn't believe he was who he claimed to be, they should've checked out some pic's before matters got out of control. Now that was a stupid thing NOT to do. It certainly could've saved everyone involved a lot of time, trouble, expense and embarrassment. Where the accused and the cops belong are in a hospital somewhere, having their heads yanked from their asses until they could hear them "pop," upon reentering reality. Both parties were dumb fucks.

[stephanie]

Who do you think should do the muzzling? Are you up for it?

maybe his own party ought to try..but he wouldn't let that happen, he believes himself to important..