CAMBRIDGE, Mass. (AP) — A multiracial group of police officers stood with the white officer who arrested a black Harvard scholar and asked President Barack Obama and Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick apologize for comments union leaders called insulting.
Officers say they resent any implication that race played a role in Sgt. James Crowley’s arrest of Henry Louis Gates Jr. at his home near Harvard University last week.
At a news conference Friday, union leaders said Crowley acted appropriately when he arrested the scholar for disorderly conduct. Police say Gates flew into a rage when officers responding to a report of a burglary asked him to show identification.
Obama said the officers “acted stupidly.” Patrick, the state’s first black governor, said the arrest was “every black man’s nightmare.”