President Obama told ABC News Thursday that he is "surprised" by the controversy that has greeted his comments that the Cambridge police acted "stupidly" in arresting Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. inside his home.
"I think it was a pretty straightforward commentary that you probably don't need to handcuff a guy, a middle-aged man who uses a cane, who's in his own home," the president said, arguing that Gates should not have been arrested.
Mr. Obama added that he has "extraordinary respect for the difficulties of the job that police officers do." He told ABC that his "suspicion" is "that words were exchanged between the police officer and Mr. Gates and that everybody should have just settled down and cooler heads should have prevailed."
The president said it is his understanding that the sergeant who arrested Gates, James Crowley, is an "outstanding police officer." But he said Crowley made a mistake in arresting "a guy in his own home if he's not causing a serious disturbance."
Crowley, who reportedly teaches a class on racial profiling, has said he is disappointed by the president's position, arguing that "he's way off base wading into a local issue without knowing all the facts, as he himself stated before he made that comment."
Cambridge Police Commissioner Robert Hass stood by Crowley in a Thursday afternoon press conference. He said officers "were very much deflated" by the president's comments.
Sgt. Crowley is a stellar member of this department," Hass said. "I don't consider him a rouge cop in any way." - CBS News Story
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