Henry Louis Gates, Jr. releases statement through Charles Ogletree
Categories: African-American, Blogging, Education, Featured, Justice/Law Enforcement, Racial Issues, Sports
Written By: Shawn Williams
Here is a statement released by Charles Olgletree who has been retained by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. after he was arrested at his Cambridge Massachusettes home. This information was posted at theroot.com and distributed.
Statement on Behalf of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. — by Charles Ogletree
This brief statement is being submitted on behalf of my client, friend, and colleague, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This is a statement concerning the arrest of Professor Gates. On July 16th, 2009, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 58, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor of Harvard University, was headed from Logan airport to his home [in] Cambridge after spending a week in China, where he was filming his new PBS documentary entitled “Faces of America”.
Professor Gates was driven to his home by a driver for a local car company. Professor Gates attempted to enter his front door, but the door was damaged. Professor Gates then entered his rear door with his key, turned off his alarm, and again attempted to open the front door. With the help of his driver they were able to force the front door open, and then the driver carried Professor Gates’s luggage into his home.
Professor Gates immediately called the Harvard Real Estate office to report the damage to his door and requested that it be repaired immediately. As he was talking to the Harvard Real Estate office on his portable phone in his house, he observed a uniformed officer on his front porch. When Professor Gates opened the door, the officer immediately asked him to step outside. Professor Gates remained inside his home and asked the officer why he was there.
The officer indicated that he was responding to a 911 call about a breaking and entering in progress at this address. Professor Gates informed the officer that he lived there and was a faculty member at Harvard University. The officer then asked Professor Gates whether he could prove that he lived there and taught at Harvard.
Professor Gates said that he could, and turned to walk into his kitchen, where he had left his wallet. The officer followed him. Professor Gates handed both his Harvard University identification and his valid Massachusetts driver’s license to the officer. Both include Professor Gates’s photograph, and the license includes his address.
Professor Gates then asked the police officer if he would give him his name and his badge number. He made this request several times. The officer did not produce any identification nor did he respond to Professor Gates’s request for this information. After an additional request by Professor Gates for the officer’s name and badge number, the officer then turned and left the kitchen of Professor Gates’s home without ever acknowledging who he was or if there were charges against Professor Gates.
As Professor Gates followed the officer to his own front door, he was astonished to see several police officers gathered on his front porch. Professor Gates asked the officer’s colleagues for his name and badge number. As Professor Gates stepped onto his front porch, the officer who had been inside and who had examined his identification, said to him, “Thank you for accommodating my earlier request,” and then placed Professor Gates under arrest. He was handcuffed on his own front porch.
Professor Gates was taken to the Cambridge Police Station where he remained for approximately 4 hours before being released that evening. Professor Gates’s counsel has been cooperating with the Middlesex District Attorneys Office, and the City of Cambridge, and is hopeful that this matter will be resolved promptly. Professor Gates will not be making any other statements concerning this matter at this time.
July 21st, 2009 at 8:25 am
This is very troubling. Even when you ID yourself, you still can be arrested for enter your own home?!!! Racism is still alive in this country. While we have come along way, there are still roads to be traveled.
July 21st, 2009 at 9:06 am
Let’s see if I’ve got this right. You are seen breaking into your front door in the middle of the afternoon, and when the police arrive you decide to be an a-hole. Well guess what? You get what you deserve no matter what color your skin is.
Read my take on it and stick around for more good content.
http://libertarianhumor.com/2009/07/21/gates/
July 21st, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I’m a big believer in waiting till the whole truth shakes out….but I am very familiar with this man and this legal report by his attorney rings true. I imagine there is a bit more to this per the ‘asking for’ the officer’s badge #, etc., but I would bank my assets that this was a case of a cop and his crew mishandling the situation start to finish. And that Gates will win a lawsuit after he is exonerated.
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Let say we totally remove race from the issue, I still say the police officer was VERY WRONG!!!
The police job is to protect and serve, serve = service, service = customer service. So if the police arrive at Dr. Gates home to check on a possible break in, find Dr. Gates in his home, check his ID, how does this customer service experience lead to the customer being arrested? Nothing short of Dr. Gates physically striking the police should have lead to an arrest.
My point is that customer service in the country has gone to hell in a hand basket! Whether calling a service provider like you cell phone or cable company or making purchase at the grocery store or post office, it seems to me that people are not equipped to handle a basic transaction professionally and friendly. People are being hired for jobs at a variety of levels from grocery store clerk to a police officer to the vice president of a major company and are not being trained and monitored to ensure they know how to provide quality customer services to the general public. I think in the 21st century corporations and government are just assuming people have customer service skills and there is no reason to invest time and money in training and development of this skill, they are VERY WRONG!
July 24th, 2009 at 8:24 pm
I like what Ben said, our government has no customer service skills….
One time a girl I had been dating broke into my house, through a window. Then she proceeded to try to tell me that we were meant to be…..etc.
I called the police, at which time she got violent. I held my cool, and when the police arrived she straightened up and they took her to the side and asked her repeatedly…. “Did he hit you”, I would interrupt and say, “I didn’t hit her, I was the one who called you”, they would very angrily say “We are not talking to you!”, So I just sat there thinking … Oh my goodness these cops are going to take me to jail… because a girl broke into my house and assaulted me.
So I told the girl “I don’t love you” and at which point, she flips out and starts trying to attack me, the cops finally realize she is crazy and take her to jail. But seriously had I not got her to act crazy they would have taken me to jail.
It’s not racism… It’s just…. some officers are better than others.
August 16th, 2009 at 7:02 am
Only about 10% really do their jobs. The rest try to get the maximum number of tickets and arrests to look good by intimidation, bending/breaking the law, etc.
This report isn’t accurate. Officer Crowley pulled Gates over the treshold. This is illegal but a common ploy–he had said”Please come out I can’t hear you clearly over the echoes in the Anteroom.” No matter What Gates said, so long as he didn’t threaten them, they had to give their names and badge numbers. And state charges or leave.Period.