Deval Patrick Also “Acted Stupidly”

Barack Obama isn’t the only politician who put his foot in his foot in mouth by essentially declaring that Cambridge police were racists who acted improperly over the Henry Louis Gates arrest.

Gov. Deval L. Patrick said yesterday he has been “deeply troubled” over last week’s controversial arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Louis Gates by police responding to a report of a break-in at the professor’s Cambridge home.

Commenting on the case while visiting the Main South section of the city yesterday, Mr. Patrick said he was glad police dropped the charges Tuesday and said he found the incident very disturbing. The governor said, however, he does not think the controversy will end with the withdrawal of the criminal charge of disorderly conduct.

“I am upset about what I read. I’m glad the charges have been dropped and dropped so quickly,” Mr. Patrick said, adding: “I don’t think of this as over. … I hope that he and the city (of Cambridge) are able to work out whatever remains of the issue. I think that professor Gates and the city are trying to work out whatever the next step is, whether it is the apology or something else.

The Globe also noted that Patrick “drew on his own experiences with law enforcement and racial profiling as black teenager at Milton Academy in the 1970s.” Patrick said, “In some ways, this is every black man’s nightmare and a reality for black men.”

As a result of Deval Patrick jumping to conclusions, police unions are also demanding an apology from him, not just Obama.

Police unions today called on President Obama and Governor Deval Patrick to apologize to “all law enforcement personnel,” saying they “deeply resent the implication” of their comments about racial profiling and the arrest of an African-American scholar last week at his home near Harvard Square.

Speaking at a press conference at the Hotel Marlowe packed with local and national media, the union officials also said that the disorderly conduct charge should not have been dropped against professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. The move earlier this week to drop the charges, “was a decision made without our input,” said Alan J. McDonald, a lawyer for one of the unions.

The harshest words came from Steve Killion, who identified himself as a third generation Cambridge police officer and president of the city’s police patrol officers association.

“As far as the president’s comments, the governor’s comments, and comments that I did not hear that our mayor made, I think when the time is right they should make an apology to us,” Killion said. “I think the president should make an apology to all law enforcement personnel throughout the entire country, [they] took offense to this.”

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Matt Margolis is co-author (with Mark Noonan) of Caucus of Corruption: The Truth About The New Democratic Majority. He also blogs at The Buffalo Bean. Follow Matt on Twitter.