Reply #38: Crowley's State of Mind a Much More Interesting Question [View All]

[duckandgather]

I agree with the posters who say there was probable cause. The more interesting question to me concerns Crowley's state of mind on the 16th.

Before I launch into that, let me just say I am excited about the prospect of Crowley, Obama and Gates getting together for beers on the White House lawn. Hope Crowley wears his uniform. I'm going to print out a picture from that event, and print out one of those Bull Connor dogs being set on peaceful back folks pictures from the early 60s, and hang up the two. What a wonderful country we live in to go from from Jim Crow 45 years ago, to Jim Crowley having a beer with a black president and black leading professor next week. And there was no bloody revolution to get from there to here. Back to July 16th though ...

I call b*#%^*t on suggestions that the main reason why Crowley asked Gates to step onto the porch was for safety or apprehension reasons.

First, note that Gates is a 58 year old, limping guy. He ain't LeBron. The idea that he could flee anywhere, or that Crowley would have thought that (having watched Gates walk toward him) is ludicrous, IMHO.

Second, note that Crowley himself believed he had probable cause. He walked in uninvited. That shows he thought he had more than enough to overcome the 4th. Because if he had any doubt, and he found a drug lab inside, and it turned out he had no probable cause, then there might be a liberal enough judge in Boston to exclude that evidence. Wouldn't look good on the cop.

I come back to: Why did Crowley say "Would you step onto the porch?" instead of "Sorry to trouble you sir ..." as the first thing he said to Gates?

As I explain in the blog post http://duckandgather.wordpress.com/2009/07/24/did-crowley-ask-gates-to-step-onto-the-porch/, the legal translation of "Would you step onto the porch?" is:

“I know you might be the owner/resident of this house. But there seems to be something fishy about you (e.g. maybe you’re running a drug lab inside). The 4th Amendment requires that you be outside in order for me to legally search you.”

Basically, I suspect the rule of the Cambridge police is: "When you approach a house, and someone answers the door, if your spider sense tingles, ask them to step outside to 'speak' with you." This is because if they turn out to be a perp, there's nothing lost and everything gained. Alternatively, if they turn out to be a lawful resident of the place, then any evidence you find upon searching the person outside will fly past the 4th Amendment.

I strongly doubt that every time an officer like Crowley walks up to a house, the first thing he says to the person answering the door is: "Would you step outside?" I strongly suspect that cops like Crowley do this only when they are suspicious that the person answering the door might be a perp -- of any kind.

Has to be a bright line for these cops. They tend not to be the top graduates in their class.

So where this analysis leads: In the first 10 seconds of laying eyes upon Gates, watching Gates walk toward Crowley, watching Gates say "Officer, can I help you?", Crowley thought there was a good possibility that Gates was a perp -- resident or not.

Gates didn't understand the legal meaning of Crowley asking him to step outside. But he didn't miss for a moment the menacing tone in Crowley voice in making that request. This is what Gates reacted to, and threw his hissy fit over.

Aside: 3 people in this story: Obama, Crowley, Gates. As of today, my admiration for the first two is higher then it was a couple of days ago. Not so for Gates. He hasn't come off well yet. I'm hoping he redeems himself over beers. Because, as of right now, he's seem to be a bit of a pompous ass, IMHO.

Anyway, the teachable moment of this thing is not about Gates learning to submit. Instead, it's about Crowley, and all similarly well-meaning cops, learning to be able to distinguish black guys who are likely perps from black guys who are very likely not perps.

Re the idea that "Hey, Crowley was responding to a call about two black guys busting in, Gates is black, ergo of course Crowley would suspect Gates", I say: Yeah, them niggers are really hard to tell apart, aren't they?

This is the crux of racial profiling. It used to be called stereotyping.

And it's gonna end in the age of Obama. That's why I so look forward to next week's shared beer. Maybe these will be the first two really successful black guys Crowley has ever closely met in a non-professional situation. Hopefully, the lightbulb will go off for him and he can spread the word to other cops that most black folk out there are decent and easy to identify as such.