Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
Old lawyer joke: "What do you call a hundred lawyers at the bottom of a lake? A good start." This is how I feel about our national news media.
Once again, the media villagers and Beltway bloviators got the facts wrong and spun a story out of whole cloth to fit their preconceived narratives and media bias. They are shameless and incompetent. We would all be better off without them.
I have reviewed the police report filed by Officer Crowley and Officer Figueroa Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Police Report - July 23, 2009 (via The Smoking Gun). For the uninitiated who are unfamiliar with police reports, the report is written in typical "cop speak" fashion. For the uninitiated, police reports often contain errors of fact - they are more often than not a narrative based upon the officer's perception of events. Officer Crowley's report contains factual errors based upon the edited tapes of the 911 call and transmission tape released on Monday. Gates arrest audio indicates race was not factor at start - The Boston Globe (link to audio recordings (mp3) from the arrest: 911 call, radio transmissions). Lucia Whalen, the 911 caller, disputes Officer Crowley's police report as to what she said, and the 911 tape confirms this.
It may be true that Dr. Gates perceived the events which occurred inside his home as racial profiling, and he may have said to Officer Crowley that he "is a racist" and complained that "this is what happens to a Black man in America." Let's be clear: this is not a crime.
I believe this case was just a run-of-the-mill abuse of police power. It happens. Even good cops will on occasion go beyond the reasonable exercise of judgment and abuse the authority with which they are invested by the state.
The Cambridge Police Union made a statement last week that Dr. Gates was always "in control of the situation," meaning that he could cooperate or be arrested. Cops are taught to say this. I have heard this line repeated from the witness stand all too often.
The truth is, it is the police officer, as an agent of the state invested with the authority to make an arrest who is always in control of the situation. The officer is the professional and is expected to act reasonably and exercise good judgment. This is what the officer has been trained to do and it is what is expected from a professional. The Union's statement implies that the power of the state is absolute. They are wrong. The power of the state is limited by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights which protects individual liberties.
A "public disturbance" is the catch-all charge that a police officer will be most tempted to allege any time that someone questions his or her authority or questions why they are being stopped and questioned, or detained. Call the officer names or swear and the odds that you will be charged with a "public disturbance" charge goes up dramatically. It is a demonstration of authority for police. Let's be clear: this is not a crime. Such charges are frequenty dismissed, as occurred with Dr. Gates.
An excellent post at crooksandliars.com explains the Actual Facts About The Henry Louis Gates Case:
[T]here's also a serious policy component. Policemen should not be allowed to arrest someone for being an asshole in their own home. If that was the case, right-wing bloggers would all be doing 10-20. It appears clear, and I guess there may be audio tape to this effect, that the cop came to Gates' house, figured out that he was not a burglar, words were exchanged, and then the cop arrested him for disorderly conduct. That's really over the line of what cops should be allowed to do, regardless of the motivations, racial or otherwise.
The crime of disorderly conduct, beloved by cops who get into arguments with citizens, requires that the public be involved. Here's the relevant law from the Massachusetts Appeals Court, with citations and quotations omitted:
The statute authorizing prosecutions for disorderly conduct, G.L. c. 272, § 53, has been saved from constitutional infirmity by incorporating the definition of "disorderly" contained in § 250.2(1)(a) and (c) of the Model Penal Code. The resulting definition of "disorderly" includes only those individuals who, "with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof ... (a) engage in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior; or ... (c) create a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor.' "Public" is defined as affecting or likely to affect persons in a place to which the public or a substantial group has access.
The lesson most cops understand (apart from the importance of using the word "tumultuous," which features prominently in Crowley's report) is that a person cannot violate 272/53 by yelling in his own home.
Read Crowley's report and stop on page two when he admits seeing Gates's Harvard photo ID. I don't care what Gates had said to him up until then, Crowley was obligated to leave. He had identified Gates. Any further investigation of Gates' right to be present in the house could have been done elsewhere. His decision to call HUPD seems disproportionate, but we could give him points for thoroughness if he had made that call from his car while keeping an eye on the house. Had a citizen refused to leave Gates' home after being told to, the cops could have made an arrest for trespass.
But for the sake of education, let's watch while Crowley makes it worse. Read on. He's staying put in Gates' home, having been asked to leave, and Gates is demanding his identification. What does Crowley do? He suggests that if Gates wants his name and badge number, he'll have to come outside to get it. What? Crowley may be forgiven for the initial approach and questioning, but surely he should understand that a citizen will be miffed at being questioned about his right to be in his own home. Perhaps Crowley could commit the following sentences to memory: "I'm sorry for disturbing you," and "I'm glad you're all right."
Spoiling for a fight, Crowley refuses to repeat his name and badge number. Most of us would hand over a business card or write the information on a scrap of paper. No, Crowley is upset and he's mad at Gates. He's been accused of racism. Nobody likes that, but if a cop can't take an insult without retaliating, he's in the wrong job. When a person is given a gun and a badge, we better make sure he's got a firm grasp on his temper. If Crowley had called Gates a name, I'd be disappointed in him, but Crowley did something much worse. He set Gates up for a criminal charge to punish Gates for his own embarrassment.
By telling Gates to come outside, Crowley establishes that he has lost all semblance of professionalism. It has now become personal and he wants to create a violation of 272/53. He gets Gates out onto the porch because a crowd has gathered providing onlookers who could experience alarm. Note his careful recitation (tumultuous behavior outside the residence in view of the public). And please do not overlook Crowley's final act of provocation. He tells an angry citizen to calm down while producing handcuffs. The only plausible question for the chief to ask about that little detail is: "Are you stupid, or do you think I'm stupid?" Crowley produced those handcuffs to provoke Gates and then arrested him. The decision to arrest is telling. If Crowley believed the charge was valid, he could have issued a summons. An arrest under these circumstances shows his true intent: to humiliate Gates.
The cop baited the guy into leaving the house so he could arrest him for making a cop feel bad.
I appreciate the work of law enforcement. But regardless of race, too many cops have the belief that if they get insulted, they have the right to turn that into an arresting offense. That's not the law whatsoever, nor should it be. It creates a chilling effect among the public not to call out bad behavior in law enforcement or raise your voice in any way. I know we're all supposed to believe that cops are saintly, but I live in LA. Police misconduct happens all the time, and we should be vigilant when it does.
Lawrence O'Donnell of MSNBC and the author of "Deadly Force: The True Story of How a Badge Can Become a License to Kill," wrote this piece for Time magazine Viewpoint: The Stupidity of the Henry Louis Gates Arrest:
There is no crime described in Crowley's official version of the way Gates behaved. Crowley says explicitly that he arrested Gates for yelling. Nothing else, not a single threatening movement, just yelling. On the steps of his own home. Yelling is not a crime. Yelling does not meet the definition of disorderly conduct in Massachusetts. Not a single shouted word or action that Crowley has attributed to Gates amounts to disorderly conduct. That is why the charges had to be dropped.
* * *
Unless you confess to a crime or threaten to commit a crime, there is nothing you can say to a cop that makes it legal for him to arrest you. You can tell him he is stupid, you can tell him he is ugly, you can call him racist, you can say anything you might feel like saying about his mother. He has taken an oath to listen to all of that and ignore it. That is the real teachable moment here: cops are paid to be professionals, but even the best of them are human and can make stupid mistakes.
We have an uncomfortable choice with Sergeant Crowley. Either he didn't know what disorderly conduct is or he decided to show Gates who's boss the only way he knew how — by whipping out his handcuffs and abusing his power to arrest. Police make the latter choice in this country every day, knowing the charges are going to have to be dropped.
We all know it happens. That's why so much of the commentary about this case is obsessed with exactly who said what to whom in the Gates home that day. Most white, and some black, TV talking heads obviously believe that Gates was stupid if he actually exercised his constitutional right to say anything he felt like saying to a cop. Because they know it is not terribly difficult to provoke U.S. police to violate their oaths and the law and arrest people for no legal reason.
The President was right when he called the arrest stupid. It doesn't mean Crowley is stupid. It means that, in that moment, he made a stupid choice. Barack Obama has made some stupid choices on occasion too. We all do. Everyone who is defending Crowley's arrest, including his union, needs to reread his report. There is a crime described in there. In fact, Crowley's report is a written confession of the crime of false arrest.
Lawrence O'Donnell followed up his essay with a segment on Countdown on Monday. 'Countdown with Keith Olbermann' for Monday, July 27
O‘DONNELL: Coming up: The Gates arrest. As a congressman tries to get the president to walk back his remark that the arrest was stupid, I‘ll explain why when you examine the police report, you can only reach the conclusion that the arrest was indeed stupid.
* * *
O‘DONNELL: Sergeant Crowley‘s union defenders last week suggested that the dispatch tape would prove how out-of-control Professor Gates was. But, big surprise, they were not telling the truth. None of the yelling or tumultuous behavior described in Crowley‘s report can be heard on the tape.
As I recently noted in “Time,” there is no crime described in Crowley‘s official version of the way Gates behaved. Crowley says explicitly that he arrested Gates for yelling, nothing else, not a single threatening movement, just yelling on the steps of his own home.
Yelling is not a crime. Yelling does not meet the definition of disorderly conduct in Massachusetts.
Everyone who is defending Crowley‘s decision to arrest Gates needs to read his report. The only violation of law in there is false arrest.
* * *
O‘DONNELL: And Crowley may very well be a good cop, we‘re all capable of the stupid moment. We‘re all capable of the bad decision. And I didn‘t hear anything in what the president first said to indicate that he thought Crowley or any of those police officers on the scene were stupid. He thought that what happened was stupid. That seems to be a distinction that is completely lost on the president‘s opponents...
... and the media villagers. Who can all go jump in a lake.
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