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| Obama does a "Murtha" on Police Sergeant |
| 2009-07-23 |
| Sergeant at eye of storm says he won't apologize 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. |
| Posted by:GolfBravoUSMC |
| #24 Once again Obambi's motor mouth overcame his midgit mind, and HE said something stupid. I quit keeping track, but it looks like a race between him and Biden. Hard to tell who's leading at this point. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2009-07-23 19:50 |
| #23 Gates lives 6 blocks from me. I haven't seen any reaction from the local pols, but I predict they'll be keeping their heads down and hiding from the press. |
| Posted by: Skunky Angeack7024 2009-07-23 18:23 |
| #22 Crowley's union predicts Obama will regret remarks |
| Posted by: GolfBravoUSMC 2009-07-23 17:45 |
| #21 Yeah, Now that they've been caught with their pants down, I think pretty soon we're gonna hear that old refrain from Professor Skippy, and President Barry, and Governor Deval and "Reverend" Al..."Can't we just...move on?" |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-07-23 16:54 |
| #20 Read the smoking gun arrest report. It pretty much what I expected, the officer showed great restraint and Gates was the racists. I notice none of the many witnesses are refuting the police report. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2009-07-23 16:50 |
| #19 Nice find, tu. Oops. ;-p |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-07-23 16:31 |
| #18 Oh-oh. It seems that Sgt. Crowley might know more about racial profiling then the esteemed Professer Skippy... CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – The white police sergeant criticized by President Barack Obama for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. in his Massachusetts home is a police academy expert on understanding racial profiling. Cambridge Sgt. James Crowley has taught a class about racial profiling for five years at the Lowell Police Academy after being hand-picked for the job by former police Commissioner Ronny Watson, who is black, said Academy Director Thomas Fleming. "I have nothing but the highest respect for him as a police officer. He is very professional and he is a good role model for the young recruits in the police academy," Fleming told The Associated Press on Thursday. The course, called "Racial Profiling," teaches about different cultures that officers could encounter in their community "and how you don't want to single people out because of their ethnic background or the culture they come from," Fleming said. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-07-23 16:28 |
| #17 Nice house ya got there perfesser. |
| Posted by: Parabellum 2009-07-23 15:24 |
| #16 Obama's flack is trying to walk back the 'stupid' comment |
| Posted by: lord garth 2009-07-23 14:32 |
| #15 A Harvard professor living in a big house in Cambridge and summering on the Vineyard who's known as "Skippy"? Henry could use more then a little "street cred"... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-07-23 14:28 |
| #14 Prof Gates had never been arrested in his life and probably felt he could gain some street cred if he could get the cops to at least cuff him. Of course, in a sane world, the post modernist sociological gibberish that Gates has written wouldn't even be published. |
| Posted by: lord garth 2009-07-23 14:20 |
| #13 he stands accused of racism by Gates, one of the foremost scholars on race in America. I think I see the problem. Sounds like Gates is looking to increase his street cred. I wonder how Mr. Gates would feel if it was a real burgler in his house and the police simply took their word for it because they are 'black' and the perp proceeded to steal all his stuff. Can you imagine his outrage? This is not a racial comment but wasn't there a rule in one of the planet of the apes movies about "You never say NO to an ape!". (In this case it was an ape - could have been anything). This guy wants a rule "Police should never, ever, question a black man!". Both are stupid rules - no matter who they are applied to. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2009-07-23 14:18 |
| #12 CLEVELAND, Ohio — The White House says President Barack Obama was not calling a Cambridge, Mass., police officer stupid when he criticized last week’s arrest of black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said Thursday that Obama felt "cooler heads on all sides should have prevailed" once the officer realized Gates was in his own home. On Wednesday Obama said the police "acted stupidly" when they arrested Gates even after it was clear that he was not a burglary suspect. Gibbs said that Obama did not regret the remark, but wanted to clarify that he was not calling the arresting officer stupid. What a gutless asshole... |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-07-23 13:51 |
| #11 Some report I read a few years ago indicated that blacks and Latinos are not stopped disproportionately. They are, however, arrested more often after those same stops. Now seeing the case of Henry Louis Gates Jr it becomes clear why. instead of smiling and showing his ID (30 seconds elapsed time) and thanking the cops for ensuring his home was not being robbed (the door was messed up from a previous attempt according to Gates' own statements) he escalated the situation again and again. I was always taught when pulled over by the cops to swallow my pride, put my hands on the steering wheel, move slowly and announce what I'm gonna do when I grab for things. Also say Yes sir, no sir a lot. Oddly enough I've never gone to jail for being disorderly. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2009-07-23 13:46 |
| #10 Here's a question for any Cambridge locals on R'burg - any word from the Mayor or Police Chief? I see tu cites the state union chief, but what about the formal chain of command? I hope Sgt. Crowley's next remarks refer up the chain and base his actions on the lengthy training he's received. The reports files by the Sgt. and his fellow officer, read as if straight from the manual, and I hope the prosecutor/town counsel is building the file quietly while letting the prof and his friends spout off - without all the facts as the POTUS freely admits, which is not really a good thing to freely admit, as the press used to point out, and hopefully the political opposition will continue to do so. |
| Posted by: Halliburton - Mysterious Conspiracy Division 2009-07-23 13:43 |
| #9 Some people are just idiots Twenty years of COPS amply demonstrates that. It also has an effect of undermining the usual knee jerk response that it about race. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-07-23 13:30 |
| #8 Murtha and Obama, bridging the racial divide with stupidity. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2009-07-23 13:22 |
| #7 Here's a report about how the Boston Globe removed the official police report about this incident from their website. According to the police report Gates refused to show any identification. Then he's quoted as saying "You don't know who you're messing with." So my question is, how are the cops supposed to know who they're "messing with" if the man won't show his ID? The case sounds strangely similar to the recent case in Encintas, CA where the hostess of a fundraiser for Democrat congressional candidate Francine Busby was arrested for her refusal to tell a sheriff's deputy her age. I'm guessing she's past her prime and a little sensitive about questions like that. I can relate but I'd have shown the deputy my driver's license anyway, just to avoid a scene. The deputy showed up after a neighbor complained about noise. If the women had cooperated the deputy would have most likely asked them to pipe down and that would have been the end of it. Moral of the story? Some people are just idiots. |
| Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305 2009-07-23 13:12 |
| #6 Well one of the state unions wsn't crazy about it... “I was actually shocked that the president of the United States, during a nationally televised news conference on one of the most important issues facing us, healthcare, weighed in on this,” said Harold MacGilvray, president of the Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition, an umbrella organization for Crowley’s union. “I think it’s regrettable that he made those comments about the Cambridge Police Department without, in my opinion, having full knowledge of the facts of the case. They are professionals and they do an outstanding job serving the citizens of Cambridge,” said MacGilvray. But then you go to one of the national union, who's head probably knows Barry on a first name basis and it's... A spokesman for the International Union of Police Associations described Obama’s comments as “premature,” but said he hopes that remarks have little bearing on the president’s relationship with law enforcement “I hope we can take a very rational approach to this,” said IUPA spokesman Rich Roberts. The Sarasota, Fla.-based union represents 100,000 law enforcement officers nationwide. “What needs to be done here is to analyze the situation on a purely rational basis and put aside the emotion and the questions of race,” said Roberts. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-07-23 13:09 |
| #5 "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." I wonder how all those cop unions that supported him in the last election feel about that statement? |
| Posted by: tu3031 2009-07-23 12:50 |
| #4 Time, hell, rj. We already know the answer - both. :-( |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2009-07-23 12:36 |
| #3 Confronting the cops increasing your odds of arrest. So you only do it if you are a moron or looking for headlines. Only time will tell where Henry Louis Gates Jr fits. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2009-07-23 12:26 |
| #2 Already the race-baiting machine has ridiculed the officer’s account of performing CPR on the black NBA player as a version of “I can’t be a racist…I’ve got black friends”. Yet somehow even Obama doesn’t require the actual facts of the case when it comes to a white police officer interacting with a black man. Apparently, on the assumption of racial profiling, The President finds it acceptable for a “respected African-American Harvard scholar” to go completly unhinged in the course of an official investigation. I’ll once again agree completely with AG Holder’s admonishing. When it comes to the discussion of race relations…“America is a nation of cowards” Indeed! |
| Posted by: DepotGuy 2009-07-23 12:24 |
| #1 What you must remember is that to marxists, racism is the absence of enhanced treatment for designated groups. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2009-07-23 11:42 |