Posted by nixluva:

This is all garbage! The Cop shouldn't have let it get that far. Any reasonable man would simply ask for I.D. and after seeing said I.D. APOLOGIZE and LEAVE. Prof. Gates was rightfully angry as anyone would be. I've been in situations similar to that and I know that as a black man, the older you are the more likely you are to have been a victim of bias by police. Things used to be much worse and i'm sure Gates remembers that and it's part of his life experience, which unfortunately effects your judgement.

I'm sure Gates overreacted, but to be honest, the cop was wrong to arrest him. That's why they had to dismiss the charges. They had no grounds for the arrest. If he had actually done something wrong they wouldn't have let him go. It's not the job of the police to drag homeowners off their property just cuz the person is angry and shouting.

Posted by misterearl:

Two days after the president said he thought the police "acted stupidly" in the Gates affair, he stood in the White House briefing room to ask everyone -- himself included -- to "take a step back" from the heated rhetoric from all sides. He acknowledged that he "could have calibrated those words differently" and that the controversy shows that "these are issues that still very sensitive here in America."


We've been down this road many times: a racial flare-up; talk for a week or so; then a rush to move on. Aside from the revelation of incendiary sermons by Wright (2008), there were the stiff sentences meted out to the Jena 6 in Louisiana (2007); the drowning of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina (2005); the death of unarmed African immigrant Amadou Diallo in a hail of 41 police bullets in New York (1999); the dragging death of James Byrd in Jasper, Tex. (1998); the New York police assault of Abner Louima with a plunger handle (1997); the Million Man March (1995); the arrest, trial and acquittal of O.J. Simpson on charges that he murdered his white ex-wife and her friend (1994-95); the beating of Rodney "can't we all just get along" King by Los Angeles police officers (1991); the riots after the acquittal of those officers (1992) --

- plus myriad local conflicts, such as the case of more than 60 black kids being booted from a private swim club near Philadelphia this month. All of these events sparked national soul-searching on race. And then nothing.

- The Washington Post

Posted by TheGame:

This is from an article on CNN:

The issue of whether or not Gates — first in his home and later on his front porch — was in a public place has sparked plenty of debate, including in the blogosphere. Crowley's account of the incident included the detail that "at least seven" passers-by had stopped to rubberneck. Sam Goldberg, author of Boston Criminal Lawyer Blog, thinks the report includes that detail in order to bolster the case that this altercation was playing out publicly. "It's as if he was saying, 'Look, he was really causing a disturbance,'" says Goldberg, a criminal defense attorney at the Cambridge-based firm of Altman & Altman.

Jon Shane, who spent 17 years as a police officer in hardscrabble Newark, N.J., said that had he been the cop called to Gates' house, he would have left Gates and his huffy comments alone once he was sure Gates was the homeowner. He admits he may well have been offended by the professor's alleged bluster, but that's just part of the job, so much so that there's a term in police vernacular devoted to situations like this: contempt of cop.

"In contempt of court, you get loud and abusive in a courtroom, and it's against the law," says Shane, now a professor of criminal justice at John Jay who specializes in police policy and practice. "With contempt of cop, you get loud and nasty and show scorn for a law enforcement officer, but a police officer can't go out and lock you up for disorderly conduct because you were disrespectful toward them." The First Amendment allows you to say pretty much anything to the police. "You could tell them to go f--k themselves," says Shane, "and that's fine."
____

This sums up my point. No police officer should arrest someone for voicing their opinion unless it rises to the point of interfering with the officer doing his job. There is no question these officers knew that Gates lived there and as this officer said, once they determined that, they should have taken their butt on.

Beautiful. You guys want to argue about whether this guy crossed the gray line and locked up a guy for discon then go ahead. Its actually a worthy debate. But what I like about this post is there is no nonsense about how this only happened because the guy is black.

Posted by GKFv2:

I don't know about that buddy, but if that guy punches me in the face then he's only going to jail if I press charges(I wouldn't but this is my point). Am I pressing charges if someone is yelling at me? No. Because why the **** would someone be arrested for yelling, no matter how obscene it is? Have you ever heard of freedom of speech? A cop is a person on the street with a uniform and is there to protect the people, not abuse their power because they got yelled at by a pedestrian. Black or white, it's sheer stupidity.


[Edited by - GKFv2 on 07-24-2009 8:42 PM]

Posted by GKFv2:

Posted by izybx:

Posted by GKFv2:

I don't know about that buddy, but if that guy punches me in the face then he's only going to jail if I press charges(I wouldn't but this is my point). Am I pressing charges if someone is yelling at me? No. Because why the **** would someone be arrested for yelling, no matter how obscene it is? Have you ever heard of freedom of speech? A cop is a person on the street with a uniform and is there to protect the people, not abuse their power because they got yelled at by a pedestrian. Black or white, it's sheer stupidity.


[Edited by - GKFv2 on 07-24-2009 8:42 PM]

I cant speak for other states, but there are limits freedom of speech in NYC. Read NYS penal law section 240.20 to learn what constitutes Disorderly Conduct in New York. Examples:
1. Any threatening or violent behavior
2. Obscene language or gestures
3. Excessive noise
4. Refussing to obey a lawful order to disperse.
5. Blocking the free flow of pedestrian/vehicular traffic.

So when you tell a cop to "lick my balls" like your brother you or no longer able to claim freedom of speech because you violate several laws. My advice to you is DONT MOUTH OF TO POLICE OFFICERS. A cop is not a waiter, hes not a taxi driver, hes not you valet driver, hes A COP. He is not paid to be berated and will not accept it no more than any of you if you were spoke to in such a manner at YOUR job. Thats the law tough guy, so for lack of better words, suck it up and deal with it.

I don't know about you but I have never seen anyone get arrested for telling someone else to go F his mother or something like that. But apparently if this is said to a cop it's against the law, right? Why the double standard? You explain that to me "tough guy". I like how you berate people who don't agree with certain policies. The cops acted like douches in both situations, mine and Mr. Gates'. More so mine because I was actually there to witness it. I'm going to make this story up for what? I respect the NYPD but I didn't respect how they acted and treated an innocent bystander in front of his own home. You act like a douche to someone, expect the same respect back. In this case it was an officer and that's too bad because my brother was a moron who shouldn've known better. He didn't and paid the price. But the fact remains that this shouldn't happen to anyone.

And as nixluva says, if this case or my brothers' case was actually justified, the case would not be dismissed so quickly. It's all done to stroke the ego. "Oh you insult me? Well you're going to be arrested and embarrassed, how about that?". Give me a break. Law or no law, I have never - again, NEVER - seen someone on the street arrested for yelling at someone else. And I've seen quite a few arguments. Isn't that "disturbing the peace"? Or is it only disturbing when a cop is being yelled at? Have you ever heard of "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"? Exactly. The age-old saying. They are words. Not threats, not violence, not resistance. Words. Nobody should ever be arrested for laws and I don't care if it's a law. Whther it be Mr. Gates or anyone else. Arrest me for everything else on that list obscene language and I have no problem at all. 0 problem, honestly. But this? Laughable.

[Edited by - GKFv2 on 07-25-2009 5:25 PM]

Posted by GKFv2:

Posted by izybx:

Posted by GKFv2:

Posted by izybx:

Posted by GKFv2:

I don't know about that buddy, but if that guy punches me in the face then he's only going to jail if I press charges(I wouldn't but this is my point). Am I pressing charges if someone is yelling at me? No. Because why the **** would someone be arrested for yelling, no matter how obscene it is? Have you ever heard of freedom of speech? A cop is a person on the street with a uniform and is there to protect the people, not abuse their power because they got yelled at by a pedestrian. Black or white, it's sheer stupidity.


[Edited by - GKFv2 on 07-24-2009 8:42 PM]

I cant speak for other states, but there are limits freedom of speech in NYC. Read NYS penal law section 240.20 to learn what constitutes Disorderly Conduct in New York. Examples:
1. Any threatening or violent behavior
2. Obscene language or gestures
3. Excessive noise
4. Refussing to obey a lawful order to disperse.
5. Blocking the free flow of pedestrian/vehicular traffic.

So when you tell a cop to "lick my balls" like your brother you or no longer able to claim freedom of speech because you violate several laws. My advice to you is DONT MOUTH OF TO POLICE OFFICERS. A cop is not a waiter, hes not a taxi driver, hes not you valet driver, hes A COP. He is not paid to be berated and will not accept it no more than any of you if you were spoke to in such a manner at YOUR job. Thats the law tough guy, so for lack of better words, suck it up and deal with it.

I don't know about you but I have never seen anyone get arrested for telling someone else to go F his mother or something like that. But apparently if this is said to a cop it's against the law, right? Why the double standard? You explain that to me "tough guy". I like how you berate people who don't agree with certain policies. The cops acted like douches in both situations, mine and Mr. Gates'. More so mine because I was actually there to witness it. I'm going to make this story up for what? I respect the NYPD but I didn't respect how they acted and treated an innocent bystander in front of his own home. You act like a douche to someone, expect the same respect back. In this case it was an officer and that's too bad because my brother was a moron who shouldn've known better. He didn't and paid the price. But the fact remains that this shouldn't happen to anyone.

And as nixluva says, if this case or my brothers' case was actually justified, the case would not be dismissed so quickly. It's all done to stroke the ego. "Oh you insult me? Well you're going to be arrested and embarrassed, how about that?". Give me a break. Law or no law, I have never - again, NEVER - seen someone on the street arrested for yelling at someone else. And I've seen quite a few arguments. Isn't that "disturbing the peace"? Or is it only disturbing when a cop is being yelled at? Have you ever heard of "sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me"? Exactly. The age-old saying. They are words. Not threats, not violence, not resistance. Words. Nobody should ever be arrested for laws and I don't care if it's a law. Whther it be Mr. Gates or anyone else. Arrest me for everything else on that list obscene language and I have no problem at all. 0 problem, honestly. But this? Laughable.

[Edited by - GKFv2 on 07-25-2009 5:25 PM]

I dont berate anyone. Youre the one who likes to call names. This is one of those situations where youre just going to have to deal with it. You cant talk to a cop like hes a piece of garbage. Hes a cop. Its common sense. Theres really nothing more to the story. Cops are authority figures and need to be treated with respect. I dont know if you are employed or not, but if you are im assuming that you treat your boss a certain way. Im sure you talk to your co-workers like human beings. If you acted like a jerk you would be fired. Im sure then you could go cry about freedom of speech or whatever. End of the day, youre not going to win against a cop. You tell me to lick your balls your spending the weekend in jail and im getting some OT. Thats the end of the story. Just because a guy has a uniform and a shield doesnt mean you have an excuse to say things to them that you wouldnt say to a regular person on the street who would beat your ass. You can complain about it all you want but the law wont change.

That makes no sense. I'm not saying that to them BECAUSE they are a police officer. Like I said, you treat someone with complete disrespect then expect the same back. I'm not a criminal and neither is my family. Go waste your time arresting the crackheads or dealers, the real criminals out there, not some nobody in the street parked in front of his house minding his own business. This goes for Mr. Gates too, who was actually IN his own house. Wearing a uniform and a badge doesn't make someone exempt to the same treatment others get on the street WITHOUT punishment. And besides, I would say whatever I want to anyone if we were in a heated argument. This is what happens when someone gets mad if you didn't notice. They yell. Yelling is a form of anger. Anger is an expression, a feeling. Getting arrested for expressing anger thru words with no threats is a terrible law, no matter how much you want to defend it. That's my stance on it and I don't feel like going on about it because neither you or I will change our opinions about it.

[Edited by - GKFv2 on 07-25-2009 6:01 PM]