Sergeant at eye of storm says he won't apologize

[Forkboy]

When Sergeant James M. Crowley climbed the front steps of Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s house last week and unexpectedly placed himself in international headlines, it was not the first time he had a memorable encounter in the line of duty with a prominent black man. Nearly 16 years ago, as a Brandeis University police officer, Crowley desperately tried to save the life of Reggie Lewis after the Boston Celtics star collapsed while practicing in the school gym.

“It bothers him terribly that he couldn’t save him,’’ Crowley’s 74-year-old mother, Verina Crowley, said yesterday, speaking of her son and the famous basketball player.

Yesterday, as President Obama condemned the Cambridge Police Department during a prime-time White House news conference and Crowley steadfastly refused to issue the apology that Gates has sought, a fuller picture began to emerge of the 42-year-old sergeant who arrested the Harvard scholar last week on a charge of disorderly conduct on the porch of Gates’s Cambridge house.

Crowley was a certified emergency medical technician when he performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on Lewis, to no avail, after the player’s heart stopped on July 27, 1993. In a Globe interview later that day, Crowley said he rushed to the university’s Shapiro Gymnasium, confirmed that Lewis had no pulse, and frantically tried to revive him.

“I just kept on going,’’ he said. “I just kept thinking, ‘Don’t let him die - just don’t die.’ ’’

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/07/23/officer_at_eye_of_storm_says_he_wont_apologize/

[babylonsister]

1. So he's never wrong, and he's proved it. Got that. Why is he walking

the beat? (I read that in a book) :D

[BlooInBloo]

2. Aw how sweet. Some of his best friends are black.

[cherokeeprogressive]

3. Concrete proof that one "Aw Shit" invalidates a thousand "Attaboys".

[Mimosa]

4. Thanks for the other side of the story

People get all worked up when they weren't there and don't know what actually occurred.

I've been posting on these topics that Gates must not be very bright about practical things. The cost to repair a damaged door and/or doorjamb which was 'pushed open' is at least 5-10 times the cost of calling a locksmith.

[imdjh]

5. He doesn't have to pay for the repair. Harvard owns the house.

[Jennicut]

6. Reggie Lewis...we hear alot about him here in CT since Coach Calhoun

from UConn was once Reggie's coach at Northeastern. That was a very sad day when he collapsed and died...I still remember it.

However, I still wonder what made this cop arrest Gates.

[RandomThoughts]

7. Cop was in wrong but did not know it at first.

Gates guy got upset because he was in the right.

Cop did not like guy upset, instead of accepting that he probably pissed him off (could not empathise with his point of view) Cop thought people should not yell at him.

Cop arrested him because in a neutral position, he would not tolerate someone yelling at him, and in Gates situation he never got into what gates thoughts were, and never realised that he was in the wrong, justifying a little loud tone.

The cop probably thought of Gates as a criminal type, because that is what he deals with most of the time, and he did not reach a point of seeing it from Gates point of view.

That would be my guess. But only a guess. Hard to know peoples motives.

[SoCalDem]

8. the cop did not know how prominent Gates is.. and once he crossed the line

his own anger would not let him back down.. Many cops are this way. They cannot admit their own mistakes, apologize and walk away.. they MUST be right..

[LisaL]

9. Are you suggesting that there should be different treatments

for "prominent" people and regular ones?