Eh, that may have required a little too much rational thought for many of them. Hell, they may be asking to see Gates' birth certificate that he's an American citizen, his mortgage to truly verify it's his house, and his Ph.D. to ensure he's really a doctorate (of a subject many believe is reversely racist).

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As a conservative and active member of the Republican Party; I agree with you. It is not okay for a cop to arrest someone even if they do have a racial chip on their shoulder and play the race card and tell the cop that the only reason the cop is there is because he is a black man in America. The cop may not like what the guy said, may even feel disrespected, but if the individual broke no law, then leave him be. But I do not think you would vote for me anyway, so please don't take that as pandering to you, somehow.

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I am actually pretty shocked at the number of "liberals" who don't seem to get it, either. I guess true colors are being outed in all corners... t

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There's not-getting it-ness all around, but the photo of the cop on Drudge suggests the conservative/Republican media is gearing up to take the cop's side.

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Gates rented the house from Harvard, so the mortgage will not exist. Not that it should matter. The most important part of all of this is that Gates was arrested in his home, after he had already produced proof of his identity and residence in that home. Nobody disputes that. At that point, provided that Gates was voluntarily answering questions, not brandishing a weapon or contraband, and never touched or threatened to harm that officer, there was no reason to arrest him. As Andisheh says, we should not allow the police to arrest someone because that someone acted belligerently or even called the cop a racist. He had complied with the officer's request to produce ID and proof of residence. The matter should have been over. If I locked myself in my basement (which, sadly, I have done before) and walked out the rear entrance and then went around front and tried to break into my house, I would hope that a neighbor who did not recognize me would call the police. I would, however, be extremely angry if the police showed up and wouldn't accept that it's my house after seeing my ID and all the mail right next to the door in my name. I might even argue with them. If I got arrested for that, hell yeah you better believe I would consider suing them or at least making a mighty big stink. But what I fear the right is going to exploit is the "white guys are being squeezed unfairly" undercurrent that also flowed through the Ricci firefighters case, and is unfortunately a fairly powerful force in Boston. As someone who lived there for 8 years, I can tell you that it's a very segregated and secretly racist town in a lot of ways. And right now those buttons are being pushed hard by this case.

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Hmmmm? White Cop, Black "victim." Sounds like racial discrimination to me. Anyway, if anyone is interested in the officer's POV (but why would you, he's a white Cop), you can read about it on Boston Globe's website. But be forewarned, it's a extremely right-wing paper not unlike Drudge.

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Andi - I get it what your saying. You're absolutely right that this publicity is bad for Republicans/conservatives, in that it further ostracizes minority groups. If Drudge's goal is to promote conservative parties, this was an poor public-image choice. The problem is that most Americans probably don't view this as an infringement of personal liberty in light of Mr. Gates' unreasonable response. Most Americans don't condone being uncooperative with police, verbally abusing them, and rash allegations of racism. Simply put, most Americans believe Mr. Gates deserved to be arrested, not for being angry and irritable, but for acting inappropriately. Now you can dicker over whether his behavior was justified, but it certainly fit within any number of grounds for arrest (failure to cooperate with a police officer, obstruction of justice, breach of the peace, etc). You may (justifiably) have problems with those particular statutes and ordinances, but the fact is they exist in nearly every community in the country. My concern was that the man was arrested in his home, which would be a pretty flagrant violation of the 4th Amendment and would obviate any of grounds of the aforementioned crimes. According to many reports, however, Mr. Gates followed Officer Crowley from the house, where he continued to berate him. Again, just not condonable behavior. Part of the problem is that the minority groups' perceptions of police action often are at odds with the rest of America, due to America's unfortunate history with racism. Even worse, it looks like we have a long way to go before those two views are reconciled.

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I'm hardly a conservative. That said, Mr. Gates is stupid. I'm white, male, Anglo-Saxon and almost upper class. I don't argue with people, cops or otherwise: there are ways to deal with problems other than the confrontation that he sought. It had nothing to do with conservatism or liberalism or GOP or Dem or black or white. He wanted what he got and what he is now promoting.

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Adam, even under Massachusetts law Gates' behavior did not fit the legal definition of disorderly conduct. http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2009/07/gates-gate-whats-the-law-say.html Therefore, Gates should not have been arrested because he had committed no crime, nor had he made a physical or verbal threat of force against the officers or anyone else. If most Americans think he deserved to be arrested, they are simply legally wrong. Most Americans would probably say that someone who put a sign in their yard reading "Death to the USA" should be arrested too, but that doesn't make it an actual criminal act.

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Sara - To make an arrest, a police officer need only have *probable cause* that a crime is being committed (probable cause is defined by a propensity standard, which means more than 50.1% chance). Even if there were not enough evidence to *prosecute,* it would still be a lawful arrest. When Mr. Gates made loud threats at the officer ("engaged in threats") that caused neighbors to look on ("affect the public"), he more than satisfied the probable cause of the requirements under the statute or jury instructions. Furthermore, an officer is allowed to make reasonable mistakes as to the grounds. All this may sound unfair, but take that up with the Supreme Court and the drafters of the Constitution.

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since none of us were there, it's all kind of bullshit speculation, but that hasn't stopped anyone else so let me wade in as well. what i know about gates' behavior leads me to think he would have been arrested in most cities across the country, regardless of his skin color.

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I am not sure if anyone is familiar with the land mark case in Los Angelos California in 1987. The State of California vs NWA with the Honorable Judge Dre presiding. Wonderful arguments were made from both sides but at the end of the day the people spoke and spoke loudly, " Fuck the Police!"

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Adam, have you read the police report? Nothing that Officer Crowley or the other responding officer put in that report involved Gates making a threat of violence or force. He was angry, and he called Crowley a racist and said he shouldn't mess with him. Those aren't really threats regardless of what Crowley called them in his report. They certainly don't constitute threats of force or violence, or "fighting words." If we think that being angry towards a police officer in one's own home is now sufficient to constitute probable cause for arrest, then we've completely thrown the Constitution out of the equation.

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White males such as myself have it harder than anyone. Do you know what its like to be given the benefit of the doubt in almost every situation?? No you dont. So please dont try and walk in my shoes. Now please step aside, you are blocking my bike route.

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Sara - Read it yourself: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/years/2009/0723092gates2.html In conjunction with the statute you posted: http://legalblogwatch.typepad.com/legal_blog_watch/2009/07/gates-gate-whats-the-law-say.html 1. "Gates continued to yell at me, accusing me of racial bias" = "engag[ing] in...tumultuous behavior". 2. "[His yelling] drew the attention of both the police officers and the neighbors" = "likely to affect the public" Probable cause for the crime of disorderly conduct was met. Again, this doesn't have to beyond a reasonable doubt, just mere probable cause (51% correct). Perhaps there is a claim that the statute is unconstitutional under the 1st Amendment, but that is *not* the job for the police officer - his/her job is simply to uphold the law as written. Good thing you're not a defense lawyer, cause you'd have some really, really unhappy clients.

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One thing I've noticed is the lack of outrage from the Crowley supporters that Gates is not being prosecuted. If this arrest was so righteous, then why aren't prosecutors backing Crowley up? Maybe because Crowley was a party to the "crime", going through the motions of riling Gates because he knew he could. And he wasn't about to lose face by allowing himself to be chased off by Gates in front of other officers, circumstances be damned.

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I have noticed that the police department seems to always come to the defence of an fellow officers regardless of how wrong they are. That is what bothers me the most with this case. Put race aside the officer was wrong to arrest this man. Period. He did not physically harm any one nor did he make a harmful threat. In our rush to stand by our police sometimes we forget that they do wrong things. It has become an epidemic on the news every week we hear about behavior that is not becoming of an officer abuse is rapid and they behave like a fraternity more often than public servants. I support our officers when they are right. But many act more like bullies regardless of race and creed. Our cops need to be brought back down to earth. You are a public servant not a massiah. Kasim Reeds proposal to let APD officers buy property in Atlanta and not pay taxes is indignet of the problems that allow them to go rogue. Our fire, sanatation, and teachers get no respect. Cops should also stop recieving free coffee and donuts at local stores and behave more like professionals. They also often look down on the poor residents in this city. Our judicial system needs a lot of work.

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