Sgt. Crowley talks one-on-one with 7’s Kim Khazei

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- Cambridge police Sgt. James Crowley defended his actions during the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. in a one-on-one interview with 7News.

Along with other officers, Crowley arrived at Gates’ home responding to a report of a robbery.

Gates was arrested after forcing his way into his own house in what he and other blacks say was an outrageous but all-too-common example of how police treat them.

"I said 'Hi, Sgt. Crowley from the Cambridge police department, would you mind stepping out and talking to me?' (Gates) said, 'No I will not,' in a very loud tone; an agitated tone."

Crowley said he was just doing his job by investigating a robbery in the area, but Gates put up a fight.

"I was radioing in his name to our dispatcher so they could record it,” said Crowley. “As I did that, he was continuing his rant about that I was doing this because he was a black man in America, that I was a racist, and to the point that as I was reading his name off my identification card, I couldn't hear myself say it; he was yelling that loud."

Crowley was concerned there may have been a second man on the property. The original 911 call described two black men breaking into Gates’ home.

“I then asked him if there was anybody else in the residence. And my reason for asking that is two-fold: first of all, there was a report that there were two individuals,” said Crowley. “I see one, and it could be him, so where’s the second person. Or, there are two people in the residence that he doesn’t know are there. Either way, I wasn’t expecting his response, which was: ‘That’s none of your business.’ To me, that’s a strange response for someone that has nothing to hide.”

Commissioner Robert Haas said he deeply regrets the situation and plans for an independent panel to investigate what lessons ought to be learned from the arrest of Gates, even though he's convinced Sgt. Crowley did nothing wrong.

"I don't believe Sgt. Crowley acted with any racial motivation at all,” said Haas. “I believe he assessed the situation, he tried to de-escalate the situation and made a determination that the only way to stop the situation was to make an arrest."

Crowley further defended his actions.

“(Gates) was the one that was being provocative," said Crowley. “This wasn't a back and forth exchange of banter or arguing. This was one-sided. I think there is a picture in one of the local newspapers where he's already in handcuffs, you can see I'm in the background asking him to calm down and relax.”

Gates, who returned to his summer home on Martha’s Vineyard, said “it’s time to move on to another story. Barack said it all.”

President Obama commented on the Gates arrest during a primetime news conference Wednesday.

“The Cambridge police acted stupidly," said President Obama.

After a White House spokesman tried to spin back the president's word, President Obama said, "I have to say I am surprised by the controversy surrounding my statement because 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."

For five of the past six years, Crowley also has volunteered alongside a black colleague in teaching 60 cadets per year about how to avoid targeting suspects merely because of their race, and how to respond to an array of scenarios they might encounter on the beat.

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