Cambridge Police Department

Unlike ordinary citizens, a police officer does not have the luxury of walking away from a volatile situation. The cop will first try to defuse the situation and calm the out of control individual. If this fails, the cop is forced to take action. This action may include arrest of the out of control individual.

Cops are aware that age, gender, and race are not determining factors in the escalation of an out of control individual. Cops and ordinary citizens have been injured or killed when a person has escalated from a verbal tirade to physical violence. The cop is obligated to make an arrest in a situation where he believes an out of control person might become a danger to himself or others.

It is readily apparent to any reasonable person that Sgt Crowley acted in accordance with training, procedure and common sense. If anything, Sgt Crowley violated procedure by not doing a "pat down" (for weapons) before obtaining proper identification from Prof. Gates.

Pres Obama, the MA Governor and the Cambridge Mayor all should issue an apology to Sgt Crowley, the Cambridge Police Department and all police officers and departments throughout the nation. Their uninformed remarks have maligned police offers everywhere as well as making an already difficult job more difficult.

Does a police officer now have to pause to reflect, "What will the president think?" That could result in injury or death to police officers. Even innocent citizens could be injured or killed by an assailant if police officers hesitate to wonder if the president, governor or mayor will approve of their action.

Luckily, Sgt Crowley took action in this situation. A person out of control, as Prof Gates was, could easily escalate to physical violence with no warning.

When I attended police academy, we were told many times that police officers must take immediate action in a volatile situation. We were shown many case histories where police officers, or others, lost their lives because a cop hesitated.

There's an old saying: "Better to be judged by twelve than carried by six."

Woo

A man I knew was struck by a train and killed last week.

Local “authorities” said it was a “possible suicide” because he was walking on the tracks toward the train.

Anyone who knew “Woo” (Roy Bagley), also knows that he had a very serious motorcycle accident. As he said, “Woo, broke my helmet. broke my head.” He had a serious head injury and brain damage.

He was known as “Woo” because he would throw that into sentences, like: It sure is hot out, woo!” and, “Woo, I shouldn’t have said that.”

Most people who knew “Woo” know that he was a bit slow in interpreting things. If he was asked a question, it would take maybe 15-20 seconds before he started to formulate an answer.

Woo didn’t kill himself! Woo was not able to understand that a train coming toward him was danger – until it was too late.

I’ll miss Woo (as will many others). I remember one night standing outside Snapper’s with the woman I was going with at the time. Woo came over and told her, “Always have sex with him whenever he wants, woo. Woo, you never know when he’ll be gone.” Thanks Woo!