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And that is, 100%, the real issue here. Another case of contempt of cop. Who do these guys think they are?

Yes it is a matter of class. The lack of class of Prof. Gates.

There is also profiling going on here: Prof. Gates looked at the white cop and profiled him: All white cops are racist, he immediately concluded. Crackers all!

The arrest was probably dumb, but I was not there to be sure. If the cop’s narrative is correct (and it seems that was written right away, and is quite detailed, corroborated when it can be by witnesses) Prof. Gates comes across as a total asshole with an enourmous chip on his shoulder. Obama said that the Cambridge police was acting stupidly. He is wrong. it was Dr. Gates that acted stupidly.

Lol white people shouting reverse racism cracks me the fuck up. Shut up, Freddy, you’re a moron.

He went to school for at least 6 years, probably a lot more to attain “professor” in his name. Dickhead cop applied for a job and was handed a gun and a badge.

A cop arresting someone on his own property for talking/yelling after ownership is verified is just harassment, plain and simple.

Carlos, again, you’ve read my mind exactly on this case… however…

I think what worries me most about this case and the direction it looks like it’s heading towards is that Obama, in putting his two cents in on behalf of his friend, is now backpedaling in the face of police officer organizations crying about how unfair it was to call that poor cop stupid.

How is that a problem? Just think of the work his VP has been doing to convince police unions and organizations that the administration and their judicial pick is “on their side”.

I foresee the pressure mounting from police unions, an important political force in the US these days, causing Obama to overcompensate to get back in their good graces with some stupidly thought-out tough on crime or pro-police privacy acts in the future.

…all for picking what may well be the least effective case of alleged police misconduct for him to speak out about out of all the oh-so-much more worthy ones he kept his mouth shut about, as you called out so well.

…sorry to turn a comment into a blog post, but you’ve already said most of what I was thinking, just had to finish that thought.

Thanks Carlos!

Once again Carlos Miller has allowed his hate to get in the way of rational thinking. He doesn’t know his subject matter and attempts to rely on his ignorance of the law.

The identification issue is irrelevant. What happened in the house is irrelevant.

You’re not allowed to break the law because you don’t like what some cop is doing. If Mr. Gates felt the officer was not complying with the law, the remedy is downtown for that. You don’t break the law because you think the officer isn’t doing his job correctly.

Gates committed a criminal act. The arresting officer did not commit a criminal act.

This arrest was 100 percent valid. Gates was 100 percent in the wrong. Carlos Miller is 100 percent wrong (again).

10-8

Gee, all those words and you never did state exactly how Gates broke the law..

Here Carlos, I did some Googling for you:
http://ypdcrime.com/penal.law/article240.htm . Subsections 1, 2, and 3 look like they apply.

If the police report and witness statements are correct then the Harvard bigot did break the law for Disorderly Conduct (240.20). It was Gates’ choice to continue his racist tirade outside his home and follow the cop down. All Gates had to do was shut up after the cop walked away and he would have been left alone. His *need* to continue to play the race card and repeatedly insult the cop is what got him arrested. As a helpful guide, if Bigot Gates had done that to an ordinary citizen and got slugged in the face as a result Bigot Gates would have been SOL under the “fighting words” doctrine in NYS law.

Don’t like the wording of 240.20? Call up Albany and have the numbnuts change the law. Until then, it is what it is and Bigot Gates is guilty under the statute (Assuming the police reports AND witness statements are correct).

You really need to take that anti-cop axe away from the grindstone once and a while and try to have some objectivity. If you’re trying to advocate for photography, using a case that doesn’t have that as an issue is a poor way to advance your cause.

Unless it’s more about being anti-cop, and not about anti-cop who abuse photographers.

Thank you, Carlos, for stating what the media can’t seem to see right under its nose. This was not as much about race as it was about a cop disciplining a private citizen in the privacy of his own home for refusing to – as Eric Cartman would say – “respect my authoritah!”

@7: I disagree. However, I will not argue the legal point because even if you’re right this is clearly a case where the officer was in his right to use selective or discretionary enforcement, a power which courts have always granted to law enforcement officers. From Wikipedia’s entry on “selective enforcment:”

“Police officer discretion is sometimes warranted for minor offenses, for instance where a warning to a teenager could be quite effective without putting the teen through a legal process which also reduces costs of governmental legal resources. Another example is patrol officers parked on the side of a highway for speed enforcement. It may be impractical and cost prohibitive to ticket everyone who is going any amount over the speed limit, so the officer should watch for the more egregious cases and those drivers who are showing signs of driving recklessly.”

Police officers use selective enforcement all the time. And this is clearly a case where it not only could have been used but should have been used. Gates was in his own home. He was bothering no one. His tirade was only being instigated by the police presence, nothing else. If the police would have simply left his tirade would have ceased. His arrest served the interest of no one, especially the citizens and taxpayers of Cambridge, Massachusetts.

“Where was the national media and the president….?”

That one’s pretty easy. They have more on their plate than obsessing over every single allegation of police misconduct.

.

http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/sgt-james-crowleys-nightmare-is-all-too-real/

Read this article and stop being ignorant.. the arrest was legally justified.

I agree. Excellent entry by Johnny Law.

To Nemo #99:

How can you respect someone who’s pissing in public like a dog?

I think your comment nicely demonstrates what’s wrong with this country and why crime is escalating in so many urban areas. People would rather respect the creep pissing in their alley than respect the police officer who tries to stop it. It’s “cool” to hate the police, even if that means letting your own neighborhood turn into a ghetto.

You also clearly don’t understand the idea of “command presence” but then again you’re too busy putting your own words in someone else’s mouth.

Too bad you don’t like being called “a civilian” but you are one. Take it up with the people who write dictionaries.

@MC

We’ve been over that before.

http://carlosmiller.com/2009/06/10/police-release-dashcam-video-of-72-ye...

To sum up: dictionary definition is informal, changed over time – doesn’t mean much. Legal definition: Not in the military, you’re a civilian. U.S. Department of Defense classifies police as civilians as well.

Some people need to learn the difference between “command presence” and simply being a dick.

To MC:

How can you respect someone who’s a member of an organization that regularly shoots, kills, tases, beats, perjures, lies, harasses, and (as Micheal points out) misuses the term “civilian”?

I will respect the LEOs that earn my respect. There’s at least one on my local Force who’s done that, and he’ll get my repect until he proves unworthy of it, if ever.

The rest of the cops will get the chance to earn it, but anger, aggression, arrogance, and emotional enforcment of the law (such as the guy linked to admittely practices) won’t cut it with me. I don’t respect assholes, even the ones in uniform or elected office.

One local pig *shot and killed* a guy he had a dispute with some years back. While off-duty, he entered and left the guy’s place of employment, went to his car, re-entered with a gun, and executed the victim. Fortunatly, that was too much to ‘sweep under the rug’, and that pig went to jail, hopefully never to besmirch the uniform we would all like to be able to look up to. There’s another case of emotions overring professionalism. And if you don’t think that a thug in uniform, one who’s killed a man for no more reason than emotion, is a pig, then there’s no convincing you that the sun actually rises in the east – your mind is made up.

Oh, and please note – the guy you mentioned didn’t go to jail for pissing in public, he went to jail because he called the cop a “fucking pig”. The blogger said so himself:
“I stopped and got off my bike with the intention of chewing the guy out and sending him on his way. ”

Get your facts straight.

In California state law makes a distinction between civilians and sworn law enforcement officers. A sworn LEO is not a civilian per California law.

@Amanda

A sworn civilian law enforcement officer.

Not a military police officer, for instance.

Semantics is entertaining.

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I have no comment.

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@Tristan Phillips comment #7

You don’t read.

240.20 clearly states “with intent to cause public inconvenience”.

The man was arrested on his private property. He was clearly not trying to inconvenience the public. He was trying to inconvenience the cop.

The charge was bogus.

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Crowley also said that arresting Gates “was something I really didn’t want to do,” but that “the professor could have resolved the issue at any time by quieting down and going back into his house.”

My main problem with officers like this is they are too busy deflecting blame on everyone else rather than try to address how they could approach the problem differently. The onus is on you, as the professional peace-keeping officer, to do what you can to diffuse a situation. That’s what you’re hired to do. Quit distributing the blame elsewhere, it’s cowardly.

On the situation as a whole, although initially it looked like the typical BS disorderly conduct charge, I can see the officer’s side of it if what he was saying was indeed true. This professor had some white cops come bother him on his property, checking to make sure he wasn’t a burglar, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Gates went all Malcolm X on the cop.

Also, Obama may have made a big mistake shooting his mouth off on a local event he knows nothing about. We’ll see if he gets embroiled in a major controversy, it certainly looks to be the case so far.

All that being said, I despise the disorderly conduct law. Nothing has done more damage to civil rights than that law.

It may be entirely missing the point, but it gives CNN the chance to put up two talking head “experts” and kill some time while they prattle on about things that are beside the point.

> Or the black EMT who was strangled by a white EMT

Carlos, I think you made a mistake here. Otherwise, very well written argument that I think needs more attention.

Tom,

But that is why I point out the cop initially a white EMT for not yielding to him.

xdamousex,

I don’t think Obama made a mistake. He would have made more of a mistake by pretending he didn’t know what the reporter was talking about.

And he was careful to state his opinion based on the facts presented. He acknowledged he didn’t have firsthand info on the situation.

The people who are crucifying him on this are the people who are crucifying every day for one thing or another. Tomorrow it will be something else.

Tristan,

If you’re going to through the trouble of Googling, at least Google a law that pertains to the state we are talking about.

Gates was arrested in Massachusetts, not in New York.

Here is the Massachusetts Disorderly Conduct statute for your convenience. Read it, analyze it and find some language that you believe pertains to this arrest.

And then we’ll continue this discussion.

A disorderly person is defined as one who:

* with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or
* recklessly creates a risk thereof
* engages in fighting or threatening, violent or tumultuous behavior, or
* creates a hazard or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose.

Conviction for Disorderly conduct in MA can be punishable by imprisonment for up to 6 months.

Disturbing the peace also falls under Chapter 272, with similar penalties. Some Massachusetts towns also have specific ordinances relating to disturbing the peace.

I am in different criminal courts across the state everyday, defending my clients rights and freedom. If you need someone on your side against the legal system, call me and I’ll offer my experience and advice to you, with no obligation.

If you are charged with disorderly conduct, disturbing the peace or another criminal offense, call me now at my office in Dedham, MA at (781)326-2700, or my Brockton office to schedule your free first appointment now.

MGL CHAPTER 272. Mass General Laws, excerpt.

Section 53. Common night walkers, common street walkers, both male and female, common railers and brawlers, persons who with offensive and disorderly acts or language accost or annoy persons of the opposite sex, lewd, wanton and lascivious persons in speech or behavior, idle and disorderly persons, disturbers of the peace, keepers of noisy and disorderly houses, and persons guilty of indecent exposure may be punished by imprisonment in a jail or house of correction for not more than six months, or by a fine of not more than two hundred dollars, or by both such fine and imprisonment.

http://www.masscriminaldefense.com/disorderly.htm

Gates was not arrested for disagreeing with the cop or asking for his ID.

Gates was arrested for coming out on the porch and screaming at the cops as they were leaving. It’s classic disorderly conduct.

The real issue here is that screaming on your porch at other people is a criminal act in most states, including Massachusetts. If Gates had been convicted, he would have faced up to 6 mos in jail. Race, Obama, “contempt of cop” etc are all irrelevant to this case and would never be considered at trial.

@Carlos

Tom means that a white EMT didn’t strangle anyone, a white COP did.

@Esq

“Gates was arrested for coming out on the porch and screaming at the cops as they were leaving. It’s classic disorderly conduct.”

“As they were leaving” is a misrepresentation. They were still questioning Gates.

And really, telling some cops to go pound sand on your own property isn’t and shouldn’t be a crime.

Michaelk42,

Ah yes, you’re right. Missed that one the first time around. Thanks for pointing it out.

I don’t think Obama made a mistake. He would have made more of a mistake by pretending he didn’t know what the reporter was talking about.

Personally, I think it would have been smarter to say something along the lines of that he is “disturbed” about the incident and perhaps even wonder aloud what an old professor with a cane could do to cause serious problems for a cop, but to just come out and say the officer behaved “stupidly” seems a bit reckless on his part.

@17: Screaming on one’s own porch would not rise to a disorderly conduct offense according to none other than the Massachusetts Supreme Court. From Alegata v. Commonwealth, 353 Mass. 287, 303-304 (1967):

“It is our opinion that “disorderly” sets forth an offence. . . designat[ing] behavior such as that singled out in Section 250.2 of the Model Penal Code (Proposed Official Draft): ‘A person is guilty of disorderly conduct if, with purpose to cause public inconvenience, annoyance or alarm, or recklessly creating a risk thereof, he: (a) engages in fighting or threatening, or in violent or tumultuous behavior; or (b) makes unreasonable noise or offensively coarse utterance, gesture or display, or addresses abusive language to any person present; or (c) creates a hazardous or physically offensive condition by any act which serves no legitimate purpose of the actor. ‘Public’ means affecting or likely to affect persons in a place to which the public or a substantial group has access.”, [Emphasis added by poster]

I don’t believe that anyone other than Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. has access, or requires access for that matter, to the porch of Prof. Henry Louis Gates, Jr. His porch is just as much his private property as his house.

Thank you, JLA.

Disorderly conduct is generally defined as creating a public nuisance.

But the prof was on his own property and the only people who were disturbed were the cops, who were not even invited on his property.

I do not think race had much too do with it. Ego did. You have two asses locking horns trying to prove who’s is blackest.

that’s a great link Tristan, but that’s NY State Law, NOT MASS Law. Either way freedom of speech should overrule “contempt of cop” any day of the week! if the arrest was valid then why did the DA drop the case almost immediately? There is gonna be a nice 5 figures settlement for Gates…

Roger,

I agree. A clash of egos.

A classic case of the famous law: “You can’t talk to me (a cop) like that!” Nothing more, nothing less.

Playing the race card after the fact merely clouds the issue, IMO.

Tristan Phillips: you and your law can go *fuck* yourselves.

Keep whistling past the graveyard, sonny. This bullshit will end soon enough, whether you and your cops like it or not.

Mark my words.

Mr. Beck, what do you propose?

Whether or not JLA, Carlos Miller, etc. think that disorderly conduct occurred is irrelevant. Your personal interpretation of caselaw is irrelevant. You’re not judges. What “sounds good” to you is not sufficient.

People are regularly convicted of disorderly conduct in Massachusetts using the Alegata standard, including people who scream on their porch. Pull up the Westlaw cites on Alegata and you’ll see hundreds of them. Unless the porch is enclosed and locked, then as a matter of law it is open to public access.

Whether or not Mr. Gates’s behavior violated the law would be determined by a judge and jury, no one else.

I don’t have a proposal, Roger. There is not enough of an American mind remaining to propose anything *to*.

Reality will have its way, and you will all see for yourselves.

@Barnstable LEO

No one else except the people that immediately dropped the charges they knew they couldn’t get a conviction on.

The purpose of arresting for contempt of cop is obviously not for obtaining a conviction, anyway. It’s all about intimidation and punishing someone for having the temerity to tell a cop to go get stuffed.

Mr. Beck, you do have a point. But, if you mean what you are hinting at, keep this in mind. Over 70% of all insurrections fail and the life expectancy of a resistance operative is 6 months. You will not see the end of it.

Whether or not JLA, Carlos Miller, etc. think that disorderly conduct occurred is irrelevant. Your personal interpretation of caselaw is irrelevant. You’re not judges. What “sounds good” to you is not sufficient.

It’s this kind of arrogance toward citizens that typifies the kind of bad LEO behavior that leads to these sorts of incidents. A little respect for the citizenship would go a long way in resolving many conflicts that police escalate. Too many officers do not go into a situation thinking “I’m going to diffuse this situation,” they go into it thinking “I’m going to go make sure everyone here respects my authority.” This aggressive attitude just leads to bad situations.

Police departments need to institute better training to teach cops how to approach and respect citizens.

I would hope that most cops are not bad apples like “Barnstable LEO”, but unfortunately the system does not adequately punish aggressive/arrogant behavior. That’s the underlying problem here.

Surely there is some way to take the internal investigations unit in police departments and make it external.

“You will not see the end of it.”

I don’t expect to, Roger, and my own desires run in a very different direction from what we’re talking about.

That doesn’t matter.

Unless the porch is enclosed and locked, then as a matter of law it is open to public access.

Really? Enclosed and locked? So, if I leave my door closed, but unlocked, it’s open to public access, huh? My rooftop isn’t enclosed either. Does that mean someone with a ladder has public access to that, too? Utterly absurd.

@xdamousex @JLA

Well, it’s a hand interpretation of the law if you just want to use it to haul someone in as temporary instant punishment for not cowering appropriately.

So I guess that works for “Barnstable LEO” aka “someone who’s linked to some random department page as far as we know.”

I’m amazed it took you people this long to rally around Skippy Gates. This case was custom made for Cubmaster Carlos and the Contempt of Cop Sob Sisters. I’ve stopped in here several times to see when Skippy would be fitted for his halo and was sadly disappointed to find nothing.

Skippy Gates is a classic example of what happens when an arrogant blowhard with a chip on his shoulder escalates a situation out of control. He could have showed his ID to the officers, thanked them for their concern, and it would’ve ended in two minutes. Every cop I know on patrol has citizen lockout calls all the time. Normal, rational adults are happy to cooperate with the police, show their ID, and it ends.

But Skippy had to be the martyr. Instead of showing his ID, he refused. He went into a tirade about race. He failed to obey the officer’s lawful orders. He insulted the officer’s mother. His behavior gave the officers every reason to hook him up inside the house long before he showed his ID. He acted like a crazed tweaker.

The cops finally got him calmed down and were ready to leave. But no, Skippy Gates had to continue proving what an arrogant tool he is. He had to take it outside and crank up his tirade again. Once he stepped outside his house, however, he entered into Disorderly Conduct Territory. You can’t be convicted of disorderly/disturbing inside your house, but you can be convicted of it everywhere outside, including porch, lawn, driveway, balcony, roof, you name it.

To add idiocy to his foolishness, Skippy had to break the law in front of more than a dozen cops. You have about as much chance of beating a disorderly/disturbing rap as you have of beating a traffic citation. When you have a dozen cops testifying that you were disturbing the peace, screaming obscenities, making threats, and more, you have positively guaranteed yourself a conviction.

Based on my several decades in law enforcement, I’d estimate that the conviction rate on a disorderly is about 98 percent. That means for every 100 bozos who act like Skippy, maybe two beat the rap.

Keep on fooling yourself that Skippy was in the right and the cops were in the wrong. If you insist on acting like a tool and breaking the law like Skippy, my fellow officers and I are only more than happy to arrest you. And your neighbors will thank us for it too. No one likes an arrogant idiot screaming on his porch at night. That’s why several hundred of Gates’s neighbors have signed a petition in support of the arresting officer.

Now you all have a lovely day.