Quote:
Originally Posted by DrPhil
What is disorderly conduct and whether or not the person will get arrested depends on the circumstances and the officer's discretion.
I've seen some pretty ridiculous people who weren't violent with officers but were difficult and called the officers everything but a Child of God and the officers did not arrest them.
Sooooo...discussing why Gates was seen as disorderly enough to be arrested is accurate. Age and other factors play a role in officer discretion.
ETA: I'm not saying he should or should not have been arrested. I wouldn't see the funny arrest photo had he not been arrested.
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I think Gates was arrested so in the moment it would be clear who was the alpha male, which of course is not a good reason to arrest someone, but it probably doesn't have that much to do with Gates's race, IMO.
ETA: I think you are right that it's an officers call and it's unfortunate that Gates was, in my opinion based on what I've read, actually troublesome enough to be arrested and that the officer didn't just politely leave once he established that Gates's house wasn't being burglarized. Either guys handling the situation differently could have avoided this, now high profile situation.
The whole would-the-neighbor-have-called-the-cops-if-the-people-opening-the-door-were-white is probably open for debate, but since the answer is that it would be a good idea generally for people to do so (I'd like my neighbors to call the cops if they see people of any race forcing my door open), and she did do so in this case, it doesn't seem as racially charged to me as it might.
I just don't see this as being a good case to use to start a national discussion of race and police behavior. It might be a far better case to discuss the role of political influence in getting various legal outcomes.
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