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Brief Statement on Behalf of Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
This
brief statement is being submitted on behalf of my client, friend, and
colleague, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. This is a statement
concerning the arrest of Professor Gates. On July 16th,
2009, Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 58, the Alphonse Fletcher
University Professor of Harvard University, was headed from Logan
airport to his home at 17 Ware Street in Cambridge after spending a
week in China, where he was filming his new PBS documentary entitled
“Faces of America”. Professor Gates was driven to his home by a driver
for a local car company. Professor Gates attempted to enter his front
door, but the door was damaged. Professor Gates then entered his rear
door with his key, turned off hi
s alarm, and again attempted to open the front door. With the help of
his driver they were able to force the front door open, and then the
driver carried Professor Gates’s luggage into his home.
Professor
Gates immediately called the Harvard Real Estate office to report the
damage to his door and requested that it be repaired immediately. As
he was talking to the Harvard Real Estate office on his portable phone
in his house, he observed a uniformed officer on his front porch. When
Professor Gates opened the door, the officer immediately asked him to
step outside. Professor Gates remained inside his home and asked the
officer why he was there. The officer indicated that he was responding
to a 911 call about a breaking and entering in progress at this
address. Professor Gates informed the officer that he lived there and
was a faculty member at Harvard University. The officer then asked
Professor Gates whether he could prove that he lived there and taught
at Harvard. Professor Gates said that he could, and turned to walk into
his kitchen, where he had left his wallet. The officer followed him.
Profe
ssor Gates handed both his Harvard University identification and his
valid Massachusetts driver’s license to the officer. Both include
Professor Gates’s photograph, and the license includes his address.
Professor
Gates then asked the police officer if he would give him his name and
his badge number. He made this request several times. The officer did
not produce any identification nor did he respond to Professor Gates’s
request for this information. After an additional request by Professor
Gates for the officer’s name and badge number, the officer then turned
and left the kitchen of Professor Gates’s home without ever
acknowledging who he was or if there were charges against Professor
Gates. As Professor Gates followed the officer to his own front door,
he was astonished to see several police officers gathered on his front
porch. Professor Gates asked the officer’s colleagues for his name and
badge number. As Professor Gates stepped onto his front porch, the
officer who had been inside and who had examined his identification,
said to him, “Thank you for accommodating my earlier request,” an
d then placed Professor Gates under arrest. He was handcuffed on his
own front porch.
Professor
Gates was taken to the Cambridge Police Station where he remained for
approximately 4 hours before being released that evening. Professor
Gates’s counsel has been cooperating with the Middlesex District
Attorneys Office, and the City of Cambridge, and is hopeful that this
matter will be resolved promptly. Professor Gates will not be making
any other statements concerning this matter at this time.
Professor Charles Ogletree
Jesse Climenko Professor of Law
Executive Director, Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race and Justice
Harvard Law School
Cambridge, Massachusetts
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