Sgt. James Crowley, cop who arrested Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., denies he's racist
BY Beverly Ford In Cambridge and Rich Schapiro
DAILY NEWS WRITERS
Updated Friday, July 24th 2009, 1:57 AM
Senne/AP
Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley says that he's not racist for arresting Henry Louis Gates, citing the CPR he gave the Celtics star Reggie Lewis (below) as proof.
Harvard prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. arrested outside his home, calls police 'racist'
The white cop under fire for arresting black scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. blasted President Obama Thursday, saying he was "way off base" for accusing police of stupidity.
A defiant Cambridge, Mass., Sgt. James Crowley refused to apologize for the collar a day after Obama defended his Harvard professor pal in a prime-time news conference.
"I think he was way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts," Crowley, 42, who teaches a course on racial profiling to police academy students, told Boston radio station WBZ-AM.
"I acted appropriately. I've done nothing wrong."
Later in the day, Obama's spokesman Robert Gibbs tried to walk back the President's comments that "the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting" Gates.
Gibbs told reporters aboard Air Force One, "Let me be clear; he was not calling the officer stupid."
Gibbs said Obama felt that when it became clear that Gates was not a burglary suspect, "cooler heads on all sides should have prevailed."
Gates said he understands why Obama used the word.
"I think that the circumstances are so egregious that it was the adjective that ... logically popped into his head," Gates said Thursday on "The Gayle King Show" on Sirius radio.
"People ... are looking for something that I could have done to justify Sgt. Crowley's actions. There's nothing that I could have done to justify Sgt. Crowley's action," he said.
Speaking for the first time since the ugly incident, Cambridge Police Chief Robert Haas said he was "deeply pained" by the President's comments.
"We take deep personal pride in this agency," Haas said. "We don't have the reputation that we have been painted with."
Crowley, an 11-year veteran of the Cambridge Police Department, responded to a reported break-in at the renowned scholar's home last Thursday.
A neighbor reported seeing two black men break into the professor's home. She was unaware the man forcing his way inside was Gates, who had locked himself out.
When Crowley arrived, he told an incensed Gates he was investigating a report of a break-in and asked for his identification
"Why? Because I'm a black man in America," Gates responded, the police report says.
Gates initially refused to hand over his ID, instead angrily accusing the officer of being a racist and "leveling threats that he wasn't someone to mess with," the report says.
After Gates produced his Harvard University ID, he repeatedly demanded Crowley state his name, which the officer claims he had already done.
Crowley said Gates continued hurling insults at him as he left the home. Crowley arrested the scholar for disorderly conduct. The charge was later dropped.
"He was arrested after following me outside the house, continuing the tirade even after being warned multiple times - probably a few more times than the average person would," Crowley told the radio station.
Gates demanded Crowley apologize.
rschapiro@nydailynews.com
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See Jag, Gates is the idiot in this.
The idiocy was compounded by Obama.
Where are the racist insults you referred to? From this POV, you're the one that keeps inserting race into things.
It states Gates followed Crowley outside, ...it neglects to mention he did so at Crowley's request,
...otherwise the yelling would have continued inside, ...not out. Crowley put him in an arrestable position.
You cannot charge a man for yelling at you within his own home. Crowley had the last word at the scene.
He should have walked away. He may not have done anything wrong, ...but he made a stupid mistake.
In case you missed it, ...or are tempted to gloss over it...
What were the racist insults you allege Gates was yelling?
Where are they in Crowley's police report?
