Police report and 9-1-1 dispatcher recordings[edit]
On the porch of a yellow-clapboard house stands a middle-aged African American man in polo shirt and slacks, in the middle of a statement, his mouth agape, his hands handcuffed to the front. Behind him stands a uniformed Caucasian policeman, lightly grasping the man's upper arm. Facing the pair is an officer to the right, his left hand held up in a "hold on" gesture. Another African American officer is in the foreground, below the level of the porch, with his arms akimbo and his back to the scene while he faces the general direction of the camera.
Gates, arrested on the porch of his Cambridge home,[11] with Sgt. Crowley (right) and Sgt. Lashley (foreground).
A pair of mugshots giving front and profile views of a middle-aged African American man with very short-trimmed dark hair very short-trimmed grey goatee and mustache, a neutrally nondescript or matter-of-fact expression on his face, wearing very lightweight wire-rimmed eyeglasses and an orange-and-white variegated-pinstripe polo shirt.
Gates' booking photo taken the day of the arrest.
According to the police report, Crowley arrived at the scene, went up to the front door, and asked Gates to step outside. Crowley explained he was investigating the report of a break-in in progress; as he did so, Gates opened the front door and said, "Why, because I'm a black man in America?"[1][12]
Crowley's report states that he believed Gates was lawfully in the residence, but that he was surprised and confused by Gates' behavior, which included a threat that Crowley did not know who he was "messing with." Crowley then asked Gates for a photo ID so as to verify he was the resident of the house; Gates initially refused, but then did supply his Harvard University identification card. Crowley wrote that Gates repeatedly shouted requests for his identification. Crowley then told Gates that he was leaving his residence and that if Gates wanted to continue discussing the matter, he would speak to him outside. Gates replied, "Yeah, I'll speak with your mama outside."[1] On the 9-1-1 dispatcher audio recordings, a man's loud voice is heard in the background at several points during Sgt. Crowley's transmissions.[13]
Gates stepped onto his front porch and continued to yell at him, accusing him of racial bias and saying he had not heard the last of him. Faced with this tumultuous behavior from Gates now outside his residence, Crowley warned Gates that he was becoming disorderly. When Gates ignored this warning and persisted in his behavior, and likewise ignored a second warning from Crowley, Crowley informed him that he was under arrest.[1]
Gates' accounts[edit]
Gates' account of the events first appeared in The Root on July 20. According to the statement, Gates saw Crowley at the door as he was speaking to the Harvard Real Estate Office to have his front door fixed. When he opened the front door, Crowley immediately asked him to step outside. Gates did not comply and asked Crowley why he was there. When told that Crowley was a police officer investigating a reported breaking and entering, Gates replied that it was his house, and he was a Harvard faculty member. Crowley asked Gates whether he could prove it; Gates told him he could, and turned to go to the kitchen to fetch his wallet. Crowley followed him into the house. Gates then handed Crowley his Harvard University ID and a current driver's license, both including his photograph, the license also giving his address.[14]
Gates then asked Crowley for his name and badge number, but Crowley did not respond. Following repeated requests for Crowley's name and badge number, the officer left the kitchen; Gates followed him to the front door. As he stepped out the front door and asked the other officers for Crowley's name and badge number, Crowley said, "Thank you for accommodating my earlier request," and arrested Gates on his front porch.[14]
In an interview published in The Root on July 21, Gates said that when Crowley first asked him to step outside onto the porch, "the way he said it, I knew he wasn't canvassing for the police benevolent association. All the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and I realized that I was in danger. And I said to him no, out of instinct. I said, 'No, I will not.'" "He demanded that I step out on the porch, and I don't think he would have done that if I was a white person." Gates called the references to loud and tumultuous behavior in the police report a "joke"; he had been physically incapable of yelling at the time, due to a severe bronchial infection. As he was walked to the car in handcuffs, he asked, "Is this how you treat a black man in America?"[15] In an interview with columnist Maureen Dowd, Gates denied he had made a reference to the mother of the arresting officer.[16]
Lucia Whalen[edit]
Lucia Whalen was the witness and original 9-1-1 caller reporting the incident. Sgt. Crowley stated in his official police report that when he arrived at the scene, he spoke to Whalen, who told him she had "observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks" trying to force entry.[1][17] Whalen subsequently denied making any such comment to Crowley.[17][18] Whalen was hurt by widespread comments labeling her a racist, based on the "two black males with backpacks" quote in the police report.[18] A recording of her 9-1-1 call was released on July 27; in it, Whalen could be heard saying, "I don't know if they live there and they just had a hard time with their key."[17] When asked for a more detailed description by the dispatcher, her reply on the tape was, "One looked kind of Hispanic, but I'm not really sure. And the other one entered and I didn't see what he looked like at all."[17][19]
Originally Posted by TCinVA
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