Sgt. James Crowley, the police officer who arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home, spoke out today on local talk radio, The Dennis and Callahan Morning Show. Here’s some of what he had to say:
The reason I asked the professor to come outside was not, as some would suggest, because I knew I couldn’t arrest him in his house. I didn’t know who he was. I was by myself. I was the only police officer standing there and I got a report that were people breaking into a house. That was for my safety, because first and foremost, I have to go home at night. I have three beautiful children and a wife who depend on me. So I had no other motive other than to ensure my safety. This gentleman could either have been one of the people breaking in or he could’ve been the homeowner that was unaware that there were people his house unauthorized. I just didn’t know.
… That apology will ever come from me as Jim Crowley; it won’t come from me as sergeant of the Cambridge Police Department. Whatever anybody else chooses to do in the name of the city of Cambridge or the Cambridge Police Department is beyond my control. I know what I did was right. I have nothing to apologize for…
…The second question is, “is there anybody in the home with you?” And again, my reasoning is not to get into his personal business, but he may not know that there are people broke into his house. I wanted know, is there anybody else here, are you here by yourself? And again, outward appearances, when I first laid eyes on the professor, to me, in my mind, I’m thinking, he doesn’t look like somebody who would break into a house. I wasn’t certain. But his responses to my routine inquiry about, “could you step outside and talk to me?” My inquiry about, “is there anybody else in the residence?” The way – not just what he said to me, but the tone in which he said – just seemed very peculiar. Even more so now they know how educated he is.
