MR PRESIDENT APOLOGIZE NOW

FOLLOW THIS STORY, I CALLED IT, THE NIGHT IT HAPPENED, AND I BELIEVE THE PRESIDENT NEEDS TO APOLOGIZE TO EVERYONE INVOLED. INCLUDING, THE ARRESTING OFFICER IN THIS CASE.

Mass. police unions ask Obama for apology
Fellow black officer on scene says 'fully supports' white officer in arrest


BOSTON - A multiracial group of police officers stood with the white officer who arrested a prominent black Harvard scholar and asked President Barack Obama and Gov. Deval Patrick to apologize for comments union leaders called insulting.
Obama said Wednesday that Cambridge police "acted stupidly" during the disorderly conduct arrest of his friend, Henry Louis Gates Jr., in his own home near Harvard University. Gov. Deval Patrick said Gates' arrest was "every black man's nightmare."
Both Obama and Patrick are black, and the president's comment marked his first foray into a divisive racial issue — a striking departure from his "post-racial" impartiality.

Dennis O'Connor, president of the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, said Obama's remarks were "misdirected" and the Cambridge police "deeply resent the implication" that race was a factor in the arrest.
"President Obama said the actions of the CPD were stupid and linked the event to the history of racial profiling in America," O'Connor said. "The facts of the case suggested that the president used the right adjective but directed it to the wrong party."
A black police officer who was at Gates' home during the arrest said he fully supports how his white fellow officer handled the situation.
Sgt. Leon Lashley said Gates was probably tired and surprised when Sgt. James Crowley demanded identification from him as officers investigated a report of a burglary. Lashley said Gates' reaction to Crowley was "a little bit stranger than it should have been."


Asked if Gates should have been arrested, Lashley said he supported Crowley "100 percent."
The White House said Obama regretted commenting on the arrest of Gates. Press secretary Robert Gibbs told NBC News
That Obama wished he had not escalated the issue, adding that the media's "obsessions" were keeping alive Obama's comments.


"Had he known it would become such a media distraction, he would have refrained from commenting. But the president has said all he's going to say on the issue," Gibbs told NBC News. "He has not talked to Gates nor the Cambridge police officer."
Gibbs said Obama has "great respect" for police officers and understands what a hard job they have.


Differing accounts
Officers responded to Gates' home on July 16 after a woman called 911 and said she saw two black men with backpacks trying to force open the front door. The woman, Lucia Whalen, has not responded to repeated attempts for comment.
Gates has said he returned from an overseas trip, found the door jammed, and that he and his driver attempted to force it open. Gates went through the back door and was inside the house on the phone with the property's management company when police arrived.
Police said he flew into a verbal rage after Crowley asked him to show identification to prove he should be in the home. Police say Gates accused Crowley of racial bias, refused to calm down and was arrested. The charge was dropped Tuesday, but Gates has demanded an apology, calling his arrest a case of racial profiling.
Crowley said he still supports the president, who attended Harvard Law School in Cambridge and garnered 88 percent of the vote there in last year's presidential election.

"I think he was way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts as he himself stated before he made that comment," Crowley told WBZ-AM.

I AM NOW PROVING TO YOU, THAT THE PRESIDENT NEEDS TO SHOW HE IS NOT A RACIST, AND APOGIZE, NOW AND NOT LATER, HE HAS DUG A MAJOR HOLE, LET’S SEE IF THE PRESIDENT CAN GET DIG HIS WAY OUT.

THANKS

APJR