UPDATED 5:38 P.M.
President Barack Obama conceded Friday that he had erred in his "choice of words" in criticizing the Cambridge Police Department for arresting Harvard professor Henry Louis "Skip" Gates, Jr. last week.

The comments to reporters at the White House came hours after police union leaders said at a press conference that Obama should apologize for saying that the CPD "acted stupidly" in handling the incident.

"In my choice of words, I unfortunately gave the impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically," Obama said, adding that he had spoken to Sgt. James Crowley, the officer who made the arrest, earlier on Friday over the telephone. He said that he had reiterated to Crowley that he was an outstanding police officer and a good man.

Nevertheless, Obama stopped short of a full apology, saying that "I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling professor Gates out of his home and to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that professor Gates probably overreacted as well."

Earlier at the press conference, police leaders had sharply denounced criticisms of the CPD's handling of the incident and rejected the notion that race had any part in influencing Crowley's actions during the incident. Crowley, who attended the conference but did not speak, was accompanied by supportive representatives from the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association, the Cambridge Police Patrol Officers Association, and the Massachusetts Municipal Police Coalition.

"President Obama said the actions of the CPD were stupid and linked the event to the history of racial profiling in America," said Sergeant Dennis O'Connor, president of the Cambridge Police Superior Officers Association. "The facts of this case suggested that the president used the right adjective but directed it to the wrong party."

O'Connor said that Obama and Mass. Gov. Deval L. Patrick '78, who has criticized the arrest calling it "every black man's nightmare," should have declined to comment on the matter, especially since they noted that they were friends with Gates and did not know all the facts. O'Connor, who emphasized that the Cambridge Police "deeply resents the implication" that the arrest was racially motivated, added that he hoped they would "reflect on past comments and apologize."

But Obama said at his White House appearance that the president, "black or white," is obligated to improve racial understanding and relations. He said that the "media frenzy" surrounding the incident only illustrates that racial issues are still "very sensitive" in America, and that it was unfortunate that his words "didn't illuminate, but rather contributed" to the controversy.

Alan J. McDonald, the lawyer for the officers association, said that the decision by the city and police department to drop the charges was made without the association's input. He added that "in retrospect, given the publicity that has transpired, it would have been better to let the matter go forward to a trial of fact so that the truth could have been disclosed by means other than debates in the media that we've seen over the last few days."

Gates has said that he is open to the possibility of suing police, and Sergeant James Crowley, who made the arrest, has recently said that he has not ruled out a defamation or libel suit against Gates either. McDonald said at the press conference that no decision had been made on the matter.

Gates, one of the nation's most renowned black scholars, dominated media reporting on the case earlier in the week, loudly accusing Crowley of racial profiling and demanding an apology from the officer.

But attention in recent days has shifted to Crowley and the police force, who struck back saying that the officer was not a racist and that Gates had behaved inappropriately at the scene—leaving Crowley no choice but to arrest the professor. Crowley has insisted he will not apologize to Gates.

The Associated Press also reported Friday that patrolman Carlos Figueroa and black officer Leon Lashley, who both had also responded to the call at Gates' home, expressed full support for Crowley's actions. According to Figueroa's police report of the incident, Gates refused to provide identification for police and shouted "this is what happens to black men in America" during the confrontation.

“I really didn’t want to have to take such a drastic action because I knew it was going to bring a certain amount of attention, unwanted attention, on me," Crowley said in a recent television interview. "Nonetheless, that’s how far professor Gates pushed it and provoked and just wouldn’t stop,” Crowley said.

Thomas Drechsler, another police union attorney at the press conference, said that the disorderly conduct charge filed against Gates is among the most difficult crimes to define in the profession. But he said that many lawyers would agree that there was sufficient evidence for an arrest in this situation, and noted that Crowley did not have the "luxury or ability" to consult law textbooks and precedent cases in making judgments at the scene.

According to media reports, Crowley is knowledgeable about race issues himself, having taught a class on racial profiling at Lowell Police Academy for five years after being handpicked by the former black police commissioner there. Crowley also administered CPR to former black Boston Celtics player Reggie Lewis when the basketball player collapsed and died during a workout at Brandeis in 1993.

Obama, speaking at his White House press conference, added that there has been discussion of having Gates and Crowley over to the White House for a beer, and that he hoped the affair could serve as "a teachable moment" encouraging "all of us...[to] spend a little more time listening to each other." Obama said that he and Crowley had also exchanged friendly banter about getting the press off their lawns.

—Staff writer Maxwell L. Child can be reached at mchild@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Peter F. Zhu can be reached at pzhu@fas.harvard.edu


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Remarks from the President via whitehouse.gov:


THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release                                                            July 24, 2009

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

2:33 P.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Hey, it's a cameo appearance. Sit down, sit down. I need to help Gibbs out a little bit here.

Q Are you the new press secretary?

THE PRESIDENT: If you got to do a job, do it yourself. (Laughter.)

I wanted to address you guys directly because over the last day and a half obviously there's been all sorts of controversy around the incident that happened in Cambridge with Professor Gates and the police department there.

I actually just had a conversation with Sergeant Jim Crowley, the officer involved. And I have to tell you that as I said yesterday, my impression of him was that he was a outstanding police officer and a good man, and that was confirmed in the phone conversation -- and I told him that.

And because this has been ratcheting up -- and I obviously helped to contribute ratcheting it up -- I want to make clear that in my choice of words I think I unfortunately gave an impression that I was maligning the Cambridge Police Department or Sergeant Crowley specifically -- and I could have calibrated those words differently. And I told this to Sergeant Crowley.

I continue to believe, based on what I have heard, that there was an overreaction in pulling Professor Gates out of his home to the station. I also continue to believe, based on what I heard, that Professor Gates probably overreacted as well. My sense is you've got two good people in a circumstance in which neither of them were able to resolve the incident in the way that it should have been resolved and the way they would have liked it to be resolved.

The fact that it has garnered so much attention I think is a testimony to the fact that these are issues that are still very sensitive here in America. So to the extent that my choice of words didn't illuminate, but rather contributed to more media frenzy, I think that was unfortunate.

What I'd like to do then I make sure that everybody steps back for a moment, recognizes that these are two decent people, not extrapolate too much from the facts -- but as I said at the press conference, be mindful of the fact that because of our history, because of the difficulties of the past, you know, African Americans are sensitive to these issues. And even when you've got a police officer who has a fine track record on racial sensitivity, interactions between police officers and the African American community can sometimes be fraught with misunderstanding.

My hope is, is that as a consequence of this event this ends up being what's called a "teachable moment," where all of us instead of pumping up the volume spend a little more time listening to each other and try to focus on how we can generally improve relations between police officers and minority communities, and that instead of flinging accusations we can all be a little more reflective in terms of what we can do to contribute to more unity. Lord knows we need it right now -- because over the last two days as we've discussed this issue, I don't know if you've noticed, but nobody has been paying much attention to health care. (Laughter.)

I will not use this time to spend more words on health care, although I can't guarantee that that will be true next week. I just wanted to emphasize that -- one last point I guess I would make. There are some who say that as President I shouldn't have stepped into this at all because it's a local issue. I have to tell you that that part of it I disagree with. The fact that this has become such a big issue I think is indicative of the fact that race is still a troubling aspect of our society. Whether I were black or white, I think that me commenting on this and hopefully contributing to constructive -- as opposed to negative -- understandings about the issue, is part of my portfolio.

So at the end of the conversation there was a discussion about -- my conversation with Sergeant Crowley, there was discussion about he and I and Professor Gates having a beer here in the White House. We don't know if that's scheduled yet -- (laughter) -- but we may put that together.

He also did say he wanted to find out if there was a way of getting the press off his lawn. (Laughter.) I informed him that I can't get the press off my lawn. (Laughter.) He pointed out that my lawn is bigger than his lawn. (Laughter.) But if anybody has any connections to the Boston press, as well as national press, Sergeant Crowley would be happy for you to stop trampling his grass.

All right. Thank you, guys.

END
2:33 P.M. EDT