The dispute between Henry Louis Gates and Cambridge Police Sgt. James Crowley has gotten such wide spread attention that even our esteemed President Barack Obama snapped forth with a judgment on a prime time TV appearance.
Sounded like Mr. Gates dropped the H-bomb, "H" being Harvard. "Do you know who I am?" He allegedly asked, certain that a Harvard professor shouldn't have to deal with a lowly police officer even though he appeared to be a door kicking house burglar.
Sgt. Crowley seems to be holding his own, though. Listen to him explain his side of the story as he called into this radio talk show.
On that tape Sgt. Crowley said the Cambridge doesn't have a recording of the incident. Too bad. What each officer needs is a cap cam and a body mic. Surely it will occur to them after this event that whatever downside they fear doesn't outweigh the positive that could come from having a record other than a police report and "he said," "I said," hearsay.
Updated 7/28/09: Apparently, the only tapes available are the 911 call and Sgt. Crowley's call for backup. Links to recordings can be found here, as well as the transcript of Sgt. Crowley's call. Too bad they didn't have a policy of recording all citizen interactions.
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