Report: Harvard scholar's arrest avoidable

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Duh! Ya think? The split second the cops were reasonably sure of the facts they should have removed themselves and gotten back to real police work. Instead of getting in a tit for tat with some egotistical professor who's obviously having a bad day then goading him into coming outside his house so you can effect an arrest. In the days where city budgets are in the red left and right..that was not a good use of their time nor resources. But this is what happens when cops wear egos and try to teach people lessons instead of simply knowing when their job is done. They went there to investigate a burglary...when they reasonably figured that wasn't the case they should have been out of there no matter how silly the guy was acting.

Here's where cops fail though. Instead of this guy being heckled and made a laughing stock for wasting time and resources arresting some 60 year old professor in his home, cops circle the wagons and will coddle this guy.

On the other hand, the cop on video punching an out of control girl ...when he probably had every right to use everything in his arsenal short of deadly ***** against will be the laughing stock and butt of jokes among cops. Ironically it looks like he ended up punching the girl because his efforts to be less ****** with her weren't working and he lost control of the situation.

BOSTON – Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr. and the police sergeant who arrested him last July after a confrontation outside his home both missed opportunities to "ratchet down" the situation and end things more calmly, according to a review of the case released Wednesday.

The independent review said "misunderstandings and failed communications" and a "certain degree of fear" each man had for the other led to the six-minute dispute that ended with the renowned black scholar being arrested by the veteran white Cambridge police sergeant.

Sgt. James Crowley arrested Gates for disorderly conduct at his Cambridge home July 16 while investigating a possible burglary. Gates alleged he was a victim of racial profiling. Charges were later dropped.

The conflict sparked a national debate on race relations, and President Barack Obama invited both men to the White House for a "**** summit."

The situation at Gates' home quickly escalated when it shouldn't have, according to the review put together by a 12-member panel assembled in September. No one on the panel had direct ties to the Cambridge Police Department.

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