Dr. Henry Louis Gates (left), the highly respected Harvard prof may have a fence-mending beer at the White House with the Cambridge. Mass. cop who arrested him in his home last week. Let’s hope it happens.
But there was no reconciliation of that sort in a somewhat similar case involving allegations of racial profiling that happened in New Rochelle 23 years ago. The Gates contretemps reminded me of the New Rochelle incident it because the two players also happened to be a white cop and an affluent black man.
The cop was Arthur Dallas, who was the commissioner of the town of Mamaroneck police department and a controversial figure for a number of reasons, not the least of which wa that he liked to bust down doors and make arrests like he was a TV action hero.
Anyway, one day in 1986 Dallas was cruising through town when he spotted a black man driving a Rolls Royce through town streets and over the border into New Rochelle. Immediately suspicious, he followed the Rolls and called New Rochelle cops when he saw the car pull up in front of a house in the city’s affluent north end..
The man parked the car and went into the house.
Within minutes, Dallas and six uniformed officers had the house surrounded. Their guns were drawn.
Well, you can guess the ending. The “dangerous” man turned out to be the owner of the car and the house. He was a dentist by the name of Dr. William Bowles. (One account has it that the car was actually driven by Bowles’s son, but this predates our electronic archive, so I haven’t had the chance to check this out yet.)
In the end, nobody got hurt, but Dallas was embarrassed and Bowles was outraged.
Bowles ended up suing the town. I tried to reach him today but two listed phone numbers for him were no longer in service.
7 Comments
Phil,
I think the difference between the incidents tells us more than their similarity.
Dallas was wrong. He was proactively choosing a black victim to terrorize.
Crowley was right. He was responding as Gates’ protector from unknown burglars.
Bowles was right. He owned the house, the car, the life, and had not sought out any trouble.
Gates was wrong…he went berserk all on his own…Crowley is NOT an antagonistic guy.
The fact that Gates thought he was living the Bowles incident is what makes this into a “teaching experience”.
If you’re black, dont carry that chip on your shoulder, that chip belongs back in the day.
Here, the master nods. Comparing the Gates story with the Bowles story is a bigger stretch than Danskin can manufacture.
I agree. The Bowles story is much worse, an outrage really. The Gates story is much more benign, since the officer had been told a possible burglary was taking place, and he was trying to protect the property.
well unfortunately there are more similarities than
differences….if you read the crowly police report
you will see clearly that there came a time in crowley’s
mind when he realized that gates was indeed the resident
it was at that point that he had the obligation to leave
the premises regardless of how loud gates was or how
disrepectful he was…once a police officer who is in
a private residence without a warrant is satisfied that
there is no crime being committed that should be the
end of the police presents in the private home…
and reading the police report it is quite clear that
crowly knew gates was the resident way before he asked
him to step outside…
Police “presents” in the private home? Additionally, the black officer present verified that Gates repeatedly refused to present ID and started and continued his loud rant well before finally doing so, then continued his loud rant. Ever hear of disorderly conduct, counselor?
Great articles & Nice a site….
Hi there, just wandered by. I have a Danskin website. Truly more information than you can imagine on the web. Wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but good site. Cya later.