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Update: Boston Globe Now Posts Redacted Revised Docket On Gates

by Rhonda J Mangus | July 24, 2009 at 04:35 am

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Update Saturday July 25, 2009 12:58 AM EST

"The Boston Globe has now posted what it calls a redacted revised docket although it is described as a "police report" at the left side link on its site. And redacted it certainly is since it has redacted out almost the entire narrative section of the original report."

To read the full narrative, check out the original police report.

As allegations mount that the Racial Profiling Debate was triggered by Obama's comments on Prof Gates, NewsBusters author P.J. Gladnick reports the Boston Globe Scrubs Henry Louis Gates Arrest Report From Website.

That Cambridge, MA police report presents such a damning picture of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates when he was arrested that an embarrassed Boston Globe felt it had to scrub it from its website after initially posting the report. The Globe published an article about the Gates arrest written by Tracy Jan which does refer to the police report but, unfortunately, you can no longer read the full report on the Boston Globe site since it has been removed by that newspaper.

Continue reading here for some excerpts from the Boston Globe that do refer to the deleted police report.

View the Cambridge Police Department Incident Report, here.

Related stories on NowPublic, here.

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Roy C

at 08:51 on July 24th, 2009

I read the police report last night. If the policeman followed the legal procedures and made the right call on "disorderly conduct", then it was Gates' behavior which precipitated the arrest.

Gates sounds like an elitist who got caught up in a juvenile response to a perceived loss of dignity.

Rhonda J Mangus

at 21:19 on July 24th, 2009

Thank you, Roy! If the incident report is true, and I have no reason to believe at this point that it isn't true, it is clearly the case that Gates' behavior precipitated the arrest. Live and learn:)!

Drew Hendrickson (not verified)

at 16:15 on July 29th, 2009

Dear Rhonda,

I also read the original report, but I am not sure it can be completely trusted. The first reason for that is that it contradicts some of the 911 call that was recorded. In the call, Ms. Whalen does not say that the two men were black. She says that one looked Hispanic, maybe. She also says nothing of backpacks. So if the tape of the call is believable, then there are some significant inconsistencies with the report.

The second reason is the description of what happened when Gates asked for the officer's name and badge number. The report says that Gates' screaming kept the officer from giving this information. I find that quite suspicious, and, of course, the officer is writing the report about himself and may have a serious interest in hiding the real reason he did not give his name and badge number.

I agree with the following posts about the Globe redacting the report. That should not have happened and seems counter-productive to their goal of sharing all known information about this case with the public.

politisite

at 14:09 on July 24th, 2009

Rhonda, I saw that they did that. Not sure if that is appropriate for a Press agency

Rhonda J Mangus

at 21:22 on July 24th, 2009

politisite, thank you! I have to wonder now why the Boston Globe decided to re-post a redacted copy of the police report?? What's their point?

Rowz (not verified)

at 09:15 on July 25th, 2009

Having read the pdf of the arrest report, I believe that Prof. Gates fell victim to "Police entrapment."

"Entrapment" being the act of a law enforcement agent inducing a person to commit an offense which would be illegal and the person would otherwise have been unlikely to commit.

-- Crowley's call brought the crowd, who were "alarmed" because they did not know what they were witnessing.

-- Crowley invited Gates to come talk to him on the porch (so he would be in public)

-- Crowley dangled the cuffs in front of Gates

-- All of which "induced" Gates to exhibit loud and "tumultuous" behavior in front of an "alarmed" crowd.