Health care presser lies, Pt. 8: Saying police acted ‘stupidly’ without knowing the facts
At the end of President Obama’s health care press conference, he was asked about the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Gates, to which he said the police in Cambrige, Mass., “acted stupidly.”
From the Washington Post:
Now, I don’t know, not having been there and not seeing all the facts, what role race played in that. But I think it’s fair to say, number one, any of us would be pretty angry; number two, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, number three, what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately. That’s just a fact.
According to news reports and the police report, Gates became extremely beligerant and uncooperative with the arresting officer.
From the Boston Globe:
He was booked for disorderly conduct after “exhibiting loud and tumultuous behavior,” according to a police report. Gates accused the investigating officer of being a racist and told him he had “no idea who he was messing with,” the report said.
Gates told the officer that he was being targeted because “I’m a black man in America.”
… The police report said Gates was arrested after he yelled at the investigating officer repeatedly inside the residence then followed the officer outside, where Gates continued to upbraid him. “It was at that time that I informed Professor Gates that he was under arrest,” the officer wrote in the report.
Before calling police officers stupid, the president should at least make an attempt to know what happened, which he even admitted to not knowing.
Sources:
The Washington Post, July 22, 2009
Transcript of Obama Prime-Time News Conference
The Boston Globe, July 20, 2009
Harvard professor Gates arrested at Cambridge home
Cambridge Police Department, July 16, 2009
