Cambridge Police Officer To Obama: Butt Out of My Arrest

[tj2001]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/23/police-officer-obama-butt-arrest/

----------------------

How about the Cambridge, Massachussetts police department butting out of all federal funding?

[sasquatch]

1. Butt out of our tax dollars jerk face

[rocktivity]

2. What arrest? The charges you filed were DROPPED

Admit you made a mistake, apologize and butt out yourself before Gates decides to turn it into an ILLEGAL ACT.

:headbang:
rocktivity

[Winterblues]

3. I suspect if they keep it up a Civil suit will be soon to follow.

I believe in a Civil Suit the actions of the arresting officer will be considered as unacceptable and damages will be awarded to Gates.

[slampoet]

25. Do the cops really want to piss off someone who can get as many Harvard Law Students as he likes?

Seems to me that this cop has a problem backing down when he's wrong and outclassed and outnumbered and outranked.

[Contrary1]

4. How about using another news source?

No where in the story does the officer involved say that Obama should "butt out".

Crowley told WEEI sports radio network that it was "disappointing that (Obama) waded into what should be a local issue that plays out here."

This one is a bit more accurate:

Obama ‘stupidly’ remark disappoints sergeant

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32092715/ns/us_news-race_and_ethnicity/

[imdjh]

5. This article was enlightening to a point.

When the first article hit the pages we were under the impression that there were only two people who actually heard what Gates and Crowley said and did. It now seems that Officer Figeroa was there for the operative period of time.

This will either get much more interesting or fizzle.

It will also be interesting to see if people who think that dropping charges is an admission of guilt think that Gates walking away from this would be an admission of guilt.

By the way, I have had charges (possession) against me dropped for a crime that I was not only guilty of, but which the police had me dead to rights on. And you know what I had the audacity to do? Be pissed off that I had to go to the court at some ungodly hour of the morning, only to find out that my case had been dismissed. I still don't know why it was dismissed.

[question everything]

8. CNN reported about it, too (nt)

[merh]

6. Now I know Obama was correct in his assessment.

That cop needs attend some training courses. He should heed the Massachusetts Supreme Court's 2003 opinion on this exact issue.

Commonwealth v. Mulvey
57 Mass. App. Ct. 579 (March 14, 2003)

Police presence in and of itself does not by itself turn an otherwise purely private outburst into disorderly conduct.

The defendant was charged with disorderly conduct for yelling and pacing on private property that was set back from the road in a secluded area. There was no one around at the time except police officers. While the statute requires that the disturbance be such that it had or was likely to have an impact upon people in an area accessible to the public, the presence of police officers alone will not suffice to prove the public element.

In reaching its decision, the Court noted that the rationale behind criminalizing disorderly conduct rests on the belief that a disorderly person can provoke violence in others.. Given that an inherent part of police work involves being in the presence of distraught individuals, and given that police officers are trained to maintain order, the Court concluded that police should be the least likely to be provoked. Therefore, police presence alone does not satisfy the public element.

http://www.mass.gov/?pageID=dmdaterminal&L=5&L0=Home&L1=Court+Decisions&L2=Court+Decisions+by+Topic&L3=Crimes&L4=Disorderly+Conduct&sid=Dmdaa&b=terminalcontent&f=courts_mulvey&csid=Dmdaa

Please note the link goes to the Massachusetts District Attorneys' Association.

.

[question everything]

7. He does have a point

Obama started with the required "don't know all the details" and then described it as "stupid."

[kirby]

9. No he doesn't...

Obama was careful in his words. Anyone who claims to be a professional LEO and arrests someone in their OWN HOME after verifying their ID let a situation elevate to stupid. Like Obama, I dont know enough to claim racism in this case, but I've heard enough to claim stupid. What really disturbs me about this country is that people think just because someone does not kiss law enforcements ass, that someone should be justifiably subject to arrest.

[MercutioATC]

10. Now THAT'S a misleading headline.

Crowley has made no statement even CLOSE to "Butt out of my arrest". In fact, when a radio show host tried to elicit a stronger response from him, Crowley refused to take the bait.

"Speaking at length this morning on the Dennis & Callahan show on WEEI radio in Boston, Crowley maintained that "I know what I did was right." When the hosts asserted, however, that "professor Gates and the President of the United States owe you an apology," Crowley refused to bite.

"The president has a lot of other daunting tasks ahead of him," Crowley said. "I wish for the good of the whole country that he is successful in efforts to do the many things that he has to."

The radio show hosts persisted: "Well, hopefully on those other tasks he actually gets his facts straight, because clearly he didn't know what he was talking about when he addressed your little issue."

Crowley said: "I think it is regrettable that anybody on either side of this issue would make comments - and you know I saw some of them, but I think its regrettable that anybody, either somebody who supports me or somebody who thinks I acted inappropriately -- without knowing the whole story, without talking to those who were there who have firsthand knowledge of the events and who saw themselves the way in which professor Gates acted and what led to his arrest."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/cambridge_sgt_d.html

[HughMoran]

12. WEEI - right-wing motherfucking morons

I should go by the radio station and kick those pansy's asses.

[MercutioATC]

14. Agreed...but the FOX headline was just as bad.

They're both just trying to create a controversy where none exists. Crowley isn't attacking Obama for making the statement.

[HughMoran]

18. In the end, Crowley really should apologize

He can defend what he did, but in the end he misjudged the situation, and for that he should apologize.

[seabeyond]

19. piece of shit fox. OP needs to add this to his post so it is clear to posters. thanks. n/t

[hughee99]

21. Isn't it amazing how all of the sudden Faux becomes a credible source. n/t

[HughMoran]

11. I'll have to send over some of my boys from the other side of the river to fix him

Cambridge Police :rofl: What an ass hole.

[timeforpeace]

13. Really? That's horrible. Now I believe Gates 100%.

[MercutioATC]

17. No, NOT really. FOX is just being FOX and misrepresenting the facts.

"Speaking at length this morning on the Dennis & Callahan show on WEEI radio in Boston, Crowley maintained that "I know what I did was right." When the hosts asserted, however, that "professor Gates and the President of the United States owe you an apology," Crowley refused to bite.

"The president has a lot of other daunting tasks ahead of him," Crowley said. "I wish for the good of the whole country that he is successful in efforts to do the many things that he has to."

The radio show hosts persisted: "Well, hopefully on those other tasks he actually gets his facts straight, because clearly he didn't know what he was talking about when he addressed your little issue."

Crowley said: "I think it is regrettable that anybody on either side of this issue would make comments - and you know I saw some of them, but I think its regrettable that anybody, either somebody who supports me or somebody who thinks I acted inappropriately -- without knowing the whole story, without talking to those who were there who have firsthand knowledge of the events and who saw themselves the way in which professor Gates acted and what led to his arrest."


http://www.boston.com/news/local/breaking_news/2009/07/cambridge_sgt_d.html

[BlooInBloo]

15. Somebody's getting tumultuous. Arrest him.

[seabeyond]

16. i take back what i said. in post above, looking like it is fox that is the assholes and

this guy didnt say anything of the sort

[sledgehammer]

20. It's your job you idiot, not a favor!

Crowley told the Boston Herald that he is not a racist, and at age 27 gave CPR to a dying Reggie Lewis, the Boston Celtics star who had a fatal heart attack in 1993 during a practice game at Brandeis University, where Crowley was a campus police officer at the time.

"I wasn't working on Reggie Lewis the basketball star. I wasn't working on a black man. I was working on another human being," Crowley told the Herald.

You are paid to take care of situations like this. It's your effing job! If you think it was a favor, get off the damn police force!

[Contrary1]

23. Where did Crowley say he thought he was doing Lewis "a favor" by performing CPR?

Geez.

[sledgehammer]

24. His implication is...

...that he was gracious enough to try to save a black man, ergo he's not racist. That's no way to prove you're not a racist.

I'm not saying he is racist, and there's no evidence that he is one, and personally I don't think he is.

But to use an event like a cop attempting to save a black man's life as evidence that he is NOT a racist is ridiculous. It's like the age-old "I have many black friends" argument, but even worse because he's duty-bound to save the person's life.

Now if he was a private citizen who walked into a black family's home to attempt to save someone, his example may hold more true. But he was a campus cop - it was his job!

[tuckessee]

22. The headline is an outright lie, but that's to be expected with Fox. n/t

[HOLOS]

26. Cambridge Police have history of racism