Obama: Police Acted 'Stupidly'.

I was working event standby, as a medic, the concert was Country music. There was a fight, somebody grabbed someones boob, I saw the guys reasoning for punching the guy and so did the responding officers. However, he, the guy whose wife had been fondled, kept cursing and the officer told him to tone it down. He kept screaming and cursing. So, the officer placed him under arrest.

Everyone involved was white! The charges were later dropped and the other guy plead down to simple battery after publicly apologizing through a wired jaw.

The story above sounds like this story except one important detail. The story above took place in a public venue, while the Harvard story unfolded in the Professors living room and climaxed on his front porch for no other reason than that the cop didn't like the words that were coming out of his mouth. The cop is a gorilla.

Sure, the Professor baited the cop, but if the cop is such an expert he should have seen all of this coming. The cop should have just walked away after becoming aware of the true nature of the situation, as he should now, but he's far too impressed with himself to do so.

Obama's characterization of the cop being stupid was dead on...and the fact that this guy is still talking proves it.





[edit on 23-7-2009 by IDK88]

I found a copy of the arrest report at smoking gun.

Smoking Gun

Every should read this before they pass judgment on the police officer.

I think that the professor over reacted.

[edit on 23-7-2009 by Wildbob77]

So, I suppose noone wants to confront the fact that the entire event occured inside the home of Gates. Is this clicking in any of your heads?

Whatever was said was said on Private Property and by the owner of the Property. The Cop has no point and the more he tries to present his case the more severe the response against his department will be.

The day will never arrive when I have to watch my tongue on my own property so I don't hurt the feelings of some confused cop.

reply to post by IDK88


Read the report that is in the smoking gun.

The officer was on the porch.

There are witnesses.

We will find out what happened.

Originally posted by IDK88
reply to post by burdman30ott6

 

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Obama probably won't follow my advice but as President he needs to put his dogs on a leash. This would be the perfect time to show whoever in the military that thinks they don't have to follow his orders or whoever in local law enforcement that thinks he can arrest belligerent citizens on THEIR OWN PROPERTY - who also have rights according to our consitution - he is in fact President and has more clout than you.

Can you read? Really, can you? The POTUS has absolutely ZERO authority over local law enforcement. Read the post you claim to be responding to, or at least, attempt to, since it may be written at a level above your comprehension. If that is the case, you can let me know and I'd be happy to translate it to the level of an average ten-year-old for your benefit. And law enforcement is not military at all.

reply to post by IDK88


I am sorry but following a police officer out of your home, shouting obscenities is a sure way to get yourself arrested----regardless of your skin color! I have to respectfully disagree with you. The situation would be no different if a deputy came out to my home and I chased him outside cursing at him! Guaranteed, I would be placed under arrest and jailed!

Furthermore, what is at issue here is not Gates' arrest, it is Obama's racist statements!

racism def (American Heritage) 2. Discrimination or prejudice based on race.

racist is an adjective of that!

Is not prejudice to exonerate Gates based on the concept that, "blacks are singled out"? Is this not the very definition of a racist? Is it any different than a cop that pulls over a car load of black kids because of their race?

I thought the report you posted said that the Police officer asked him to come outside. Anyway, I still think the front porch of a single family home still qualifies as private property.

For the other posters...I agree anyone who did what Gates did might be arrested. Cops are full of themselves and quite pleased at what God has made them.

But the charges were dropped...quickly dropped. Why? Because there is no case and he won't win in front of a judge.

I am not aware of the law that gives cops jurisdiction within a private residence, where is this in the criminal code?

Perhaps the President has no lawful authority over the officer, but I think he can find ways to hurt the man nevertheless; at least hurt him bad enough that he learns who to argue with and who not to argue with.

After reading the entire police report, it is obvious that the police not only acted properly, but gave the professor several warnings, before handcuffing him. It is also obvious that the professor was quick to play the race card, as soon as he was questioned.
The police officer was responding to a valid call from a citizen who witnessed what seemed to be a break-in. The police were 100% in the right here.
Furthermore, what is extremely upsetting is Obama's reaction and comments, which unfortunately reveal a great deal about him-namely that he also is quick to play the race card, and victimization routine, much like Al Sharpton.
Furthermore, Obama's comment, as president of the US, shows a complete lack of respect for the police of this country, but then again, he also feels the same about our service men and women, so I guess I shouldn't be surprised. His comments will further fuel hatred on both sides of this issue. He should have stuck to commenting about health care.

reply to post by ProfEmeritus


Yes the police did respond properly...up to the point when they determined that there had been no break-in.

Instead of leaving, they actually stood around and let themselves be pulled into the minor mess making its rounds in the national media.

This is the reason that Obama said the cop acted stupidly. Because they lost control of the situation and have now let it spiral into a race issue, when it is a procedural issue. Luckily for us all the leadership within the city of Cambridge decided to just drop this non-issue from the docket. If Sharpton had come to town, I'd have to listen to this for the rest of the year. When the Feds were out at Ruby Ridge and Waco there was a problem, but for some reason it isn't obvious that this about what limits do local law enforcement have.

Since when must a President respect cops under all circumstances? Since when are cops beyond reproach? This guy needs retraining and apparently so does his entire department.

How quickly people accept fascism...when they identify with the fascists.

The Cambridge PD should just wipe Dr. Gates' home off the response list. If he does not want the PD, let him paddle his own boat.

reply to post by IDK88


How do you know what Obama meant? Are you on his staff? Do you play b-ball with him?

I mean NO sarcasm. I am just demonstrating that none of us no exactly what he meant, but the inference was most certainly racist!

reply to post by Viking04


I too had this thought. But then when his home is really burglarized he'll say that the cops don't do enough to protect the African American community.

This topic is Gates' line of work, he sells books, keeps his classes filled and goes on speaking engagements based on this type of stuff and all that will happen in the end is that a quiet community will become host to a race tainted media circus. Jesse Jackson did something similiar to this in 1999 in a town called Highland Park, Illinois.

But unless people learn, then they're doomed to be annoyed by ridiculous conversations for all eternity.

reply to post by IDK88

Because they lost control of the situation and have now let it spiral into a race issue, when it is a procedural issue

It is clear from the complete police report, that the professor never gave the police the chance to leave, because he started screaming at the police officer about being a racist, almost immediately. Furthermore, it is police procedure to enter the premise and make sure that there are no other perpetrators on the premise, and that no one is being held hostage, and forcing the owner of the home to claim that no one broke in.
Furthermore, to bring up the word "fascism" is ludicrous. It sounds like you are also engaging in the victimization game. Next time you need the police, try calling them fascists. I'm sure they'll be glad to set you straight.
Then again, since you claim to knowfor a fact how God speaks,
www.abovetopsecret.com...&mem=IDK88

Well I know for a fact that God's voice sounds just like a Trumpet blast and not a human voice. Furthermore, when God speaks to you his voice is accompanied by light.

maybe you have some inside information.

reply to post by traderjack


What else could he have meant? At the very moment the police realized there had not in reality been a break-in then they should have walked away. The cop in question should have been too busy talking into his radio or something to be paying attention to what Gates was saying.

If this cop knew anything about the community he should have known that that guy in that house (Gates) likes to get race issues started...its how he gets free national press to sell his books...then he wouldn't be in this mess.

The cop is not using his massive brain at all!! He is stupid and still running his big mouth.

(1987). Figures in Black: Words, Signs, and the "Racial" Self.
(1988). The Signifying Monkey (First edition ed.).
(1992). Loose Canons: Notes on the Culture Wars (First edition ed.).
(1994). Colored People: A Memoir
(1996). The Future of the Race (First edition ed.).
The Norton Anthology of African American Literature
(1997). Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Black Man
(1999). Wonders of the African World
(2000). The African American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Century
(2003). The trials of Phillis Wheatley: America's first Black poet and her encounters with the founding fathers.
(2007). Finding Oprah's Roots: Finding Your Own
(1999). Africana: The Encyclopedia of the African and African American Experience
(2002). The Bondwoman's Narrative (First edition ed.).
(2004) Searching for Hannah Crafts: Essays in the Bondwoman's Narrative.
(2008) The African American national biography,
(2009). Lincoln on Race and Slavery.

Above is a list of the guys books...22 years of race. What the hell else could this guy be about, but exactly what he says about himself. Why couldn't such an intelligent cop see what was happening? How can't any of you.

Yes, the cop is either an idiot or an accomplice.




[edit on 23-7-2009 by IDK88]

reply to post by ProfEmeritus


I figure that this whole event has emerged as a national curiousity for many reasons but the one that stands out to me is to expand police powers. That is why I brought up the concept of fascism.

The assertion that the cops acted "Flawlessly" is not only incorrect, but serves as a precendent outlining proper behavior for cops. According to you cops can detain a private citizen when they feel that the citizen is in danger.

So all of our freedoms can be stripped when the police feel that we may be in danger...apparently a danger to ourselves as well as in danger from someone else.

You see...unlike the idiot cop...I can actually see set ups.

reply to post by IDK88


I agree, there is no winning here, as the good Dr. is a 'poverty pimp' with an endowed Chair. He went into his bad Monty Python (Come see the violence inherent in the system...) routine right on cue. However, cutting him off from the bad old PD is the lesser of two evils. Further, they should close any open investigations into the previous break-in.

I do find it ironic that Gates chose to pick as his 'evil white man' the officer who instructs officers on profiling and cultural sensitivity issues.

As the Dr. is against racial profiling, if his home were to be vandalized with 'white power' type of spray painting, and the police picked up three suspects 1) Hispanic male wearing MS 13 colors 2) A black male wearing Crip colors 3) a white male with a shaved head and a Nazi tattoo visible. If there was no other evidence at the time of arrest, would he want the police to spend the same resources to interrogate each equally, or would he want the 'obvious suspect' to be put through the wringer?

Just a little example to chew on.

This is how it should have went down.

1. Police knock on door, Gates answers door.
2. Police inform Gates that they are responding to a call of a break-in at the address.
3. Gates informs officers that his door was stuck and he and his driver had to force the door open, then offers his Harvard faculty identification.
4. Officer confirms Gates' story.
5. Gates falls into a profanity laced race based rant, but Officer doesn't hear anything because he goes and sits in his car and drinks coffee until his shift ends as Cambridge has low crime rate and per capita income of about 50,000 per year.

6. Obama makes comments about the unseasonably cool weather in Chicago this summer.

But people are obviously descending into widespread madness and Al Sharpton almost had to come to town.

[edit on 23-7-2009 by IDK88]

[edit on 23-7-2009 by IDK88]

...in the arresting officer's report, in the first paragraph, he claims gates was arrested because he was so loudly protesting (being disorderly) that it caused a half dozen or so passers-by to gawk - and - he states the same again later - but - its JUST his opinion (no proof) that the gawking passers-by were gawking because gates was so disorderly or loud...

...there were multiple police cars, plus at least one harvard university campus police car there... if any passers-by were gawking, it couldve been because they were curious about why all the cop cars were there and not because gates' yelling attracted their attention...

...the truth could be that the cop was rude and got too full of himself when gates chose not to be submissive...

...as far as obama's remarks on the issue - he didn't just puke them out... he was asked by a reporter... it could be that was all staged but, regardless, he was asked a question and he answered it... if he had chosen not to comment on it, all the obama haters would still be griping...