Skip's arrest improper under Massachusetts law

On July 24, Cambridge police unions called on President Obama to apologize to "all law enforcement personnel," saying they "deeply resent the implication" of his comments about the arrest of Henry Louis "Skip" Gates. The Cambridge police were quick to continue along the racial profiling line of thinking. However, in my opinion, this was an effort to change the subject and detract from the simple fact that under Massachusetts law, Sargent Crowley did not have the legal footing to arrest Skip Gates. Hence, the charges against Gates being immediately dropped .

Sargent Crowley had the power, the training and the authority to pull back and diffuse the situation, he chose not to. Even a Fox News contributor, Judge Andrew Napolitano, believes that the arrest of Henry Louis Gates was improper...

"Judge Napolitano believes that if officer Crowley's police report is to be believed and that he arrested Gates on his own property that the arrest was improper. Under Massachusetts law Sgt. Crowley had no legal right to arrest Gates. Mr. Gates was on his own property which means he was not causing a public disturbance.

Also under federal law Crowley had no right to enter Gates house without his permission. That stands even if Crowley believed something was wrong. According to Judge Napolitano the police officer has to actually see a crime being committed or have a search warrant to enter the house.

If the police report is correct Crowley violated Mr. Gates Fourth Amendment Rights Whether or not you believe race played a part in this situation it is obvious that the officer did not react properly."

Source

It is the Cambridge Police who pushed the racial profiling issue while standing on the Blue Line. It is the Cambridge Police who owes President Obama and the rest of this country an apology for not standing down and backing away from the volatile issue of race baiting. All of a sudden the highly trained and diplomatic Sargent Crowley no longer has a comment.

Stupidly is as stupidly does

Enough already of Dr. Henry Louis “Skip” Gates and Cambridge Police Sargent James Crowley!

Gates and Crowley both handled this situation “stupidly” (as President Obama so succinctly put it) and owe it to us all to end it ASAP. They both "took it there". The argument is superficial, nobody can win, but we all stand to lose.

I must admit, I was disappointed when the learned Professor did not manage to avoid being arrested; then I was disappointed when the learned Professor did not just end the story; now I am convinced the learned Professor is so highly pissed because he was treated like so many other black men (i.e., those he refers to in the "prison system"). Professor Gates was reminded Race Trumps Class even if you are the pre-eminent Harvard Scholar Henry Louis "Skip" Gates.

AND, lest we let Sargent Crowley off the hook for being as learned as he is. After all, he is a Sargent with the Cambridge, Massachusetts Police Department. As a police sergeant he is trained to be the bigger person, take the higher road, be more professional. The learned Sargent has spent the past five years teaching a class at the Lowell Police Academy to Cambridge and Lowell police cadets about how to avoid racial profiling. He knows just as well as Professor Gates, that this situation didn't need to escalate.

It's an unfortunate fact, that most, if not all black men expect to be hassled by the police at some point in their lives. Why would Henry Gates expect the “sky to fall from the heavens” before it ever happened to him? Does graduating from Harvard somehow put him above it all (this is sarcasm)? If only an advanced degree from an Ivy League school was all it took for black folks to escape racial profiling.

I don’t like the fact that Professor Gates is letting the issue of black folks dealing with racial profiling take the heat. Should he be mad as hell about what happened to him on Thursday? That's his prerogative. However, there are many, much more effective ways for a learned Professor, who produces documentaries for PBS, to speak out about racial profiling and the plight of black men in the prison system.

Unfortunately, even President Obama was pulled into the frey by a reporter, while taking questions at a press conference on health care. Seeing how the President knows Skip Gates and he knows a little bit about being black at Harvard, he dared to answer the question. Regardless of what the President’s answer was regarding Gates-Gate, somebody was bound to be offended.

Here we are, days later and the MSM continues to focus on Gates-Gate. It's time for the MSM to let Gates-Gate go. The plight of Skip Gates, pre-eminent black Harvard Professor, is more of a Cambridge story than a human interest story. Enough already.

Article of interest: Skip Gates Speaks, Please, Professor Gates!, Officer Says He Won't Apologize