How I Was Mistreated By A Cop And How It Changed Me: Perspective On The Gates Arrest
Not long after I became a cab driver in the city of Madison, Wisconsin, I was involved in a fender-bender accident on the city's north side. The officer who responded to the scene ignored the evidence that the other driver, a man in a suit in a rented Lexus, had struck me while making an illegal turn and allowed the man to leave, while writing me a ticket for failure to yield. The officer, a young man in his late twenties or early thirties, was patronizing, dismissive, and did not acknowledge anything I said except to tell me that he knew better. When my boss arrived at the accident site, I was understandably angry with the cop. I spoke with my boss, heatedly explaining the situation and the officer's attitude and behavior. I did not scream, stomp my feet, wave my arms, or use profane or abusive language. What I did say at the end of my rant at my boss was: "Well, I'm only a woman so what do I know?"
When the officer heard that last remark of mine, he exited his vehicle in a fury, screaming at me to put my hands behind my back. I was stunned and looked at my boss, who was also shocked. A couple of seconds later, my left arm was yanked behind my back and the cop was yelling in my ear like a drill sergeant: "I TOLD YOU TO PUT YOUR HANDS BEHIND YOUR BACK!" I was informed that I was "borderline disorderly" and that he could arrest me for my behavior, and that he was "sick and tired of people calling him a racist or a sexist".
Whereupon, I was handcuffed, stuffed into the back seat of his police car, and subjected to the sounds of the officer screaming at my boss, who did his best to calm him down. The cop harrangued me for a couple more minutes, wrote the ticket, then allowed me out of the vehicle where he removed the cuffs and told me he was releasing me.
I was a nervous wreck for days afterward. The incident triggered issues from childhood, causing something very much like PTSD. I was jumpy, frightened, and afraid to work. After much counseling from co-workers and friends, I finally filed a complaint with the police department, which was terrifying itself. I was convinced that the police would retaliate against me and my fellow cabbies. The Madison police department had a checkered history of civil rights violations, and although I was a white woman, I was also a poor white woman. There was the belief amongst most cabbies in the city that the MPD hated us and we didn't trust any of them, based on their treatment of us over the years. My treatment was further proof of that.
I contacted a journalist that I knew slightly and told him what had happened to me, asking him if he had ever heard of the MPD doing that to anyone else, and what would likely happen now that I had filed a complaint. This journalist, a fine writer named Bill Lueders, obtained my reluctant permission to research the story in order to write it up for his newspaper, the Isthmus. I was wary about having a story done, and even warier when he insisted on a picture of me to run with it. The story turned out to be a blessing, and I bless Bill Lueders to this day for writing it. (He has a fine book out now called "Cry Rape", a terrific investigative work about a visually impaired woman who was raped and later accused by MPD detectives of lying and filing a false report. It's available on Amazon and it's a great read. It explains the police department here much better than I can.)
The story garnered me more attention than I wanted or expected, but it was generally good attention. Total strangers greeted me on the street and even at Burger King's drive-up window to tell me how proud they were that I took on the Madison Police Department. The week after the story ran, the internal affairs investigation ruled that the officer who handcuffed me had been abusive, had detained me illegally, and had violated my civil rights. He was suspended for 11 days without pay and was ordered into a sensitivity training program before he could return to patrol. It was, I was told, one of the most severe penalties an officer had been stuck with, and I received an apology from the head of Internal Affairs to boot. I had won. I had won thanks to Bill Lueders, an honest female officer who had witnessed the incident (unbeknownst to us all), and thanks to those who had encouraged me to file the report.
Why is this story relevant to the Gates incident? This is why:
There are cops who are incredibly hung up on the power part of their jobs. They are always looking for someone to disrespect them so that they can flex their muscles and put people in their place. There are mentally unstable police officers. There are cops who are bigots and cops who are homophobes and cops who hate women. Does this mean that all police are assholes? No, of course not. It just means that if you are a cop AND an asshole, you're a much more dangerous person than someone who is not carrying a weapon with a license to use it.
Seemingly, I have less reason to want to take the side of the police in the Gates incident, and I don't take their side. I'm not taking Gates' side, either. What I want to say is that there are two sides to every story. I was definitely angry at the officer, but it was awful that the officer felt he had a right to put me in handcuffs and detain me and threaten me with arrest because he didn't like me saying something about being a woman. He had no right to do what he did. I, on the other hand, have a right to say: "I'm only a woman, what do I know?" without fear of being arrested. Professor Gates had a right to feel intimidated by a white man with a gun demanding ID from him while standing in his own home. I had a right to feel intimidated and belittled by this cop, because he was belittling me---and because the MPD has a history of doing that with people who are poor or people of color, or both.
Professor Gates was probably angrier than the situation called for, but Sgt. Crowley---who allegedly has scads of training in racial profiling---should have been cool enough and collected enough to defuse Professor Gates' fears. Instead, it became a pissing contest between two proud and decent men who let their tempers get away from them. What should have been a simple contact has now become a national debate.
I earned my perspective because of what happened to me. I know how bad some police officers are and can be. I know that people who have darker skin than mine are highly sensitive to threats from cops, and they have reason to be highly sensitive. I also know some very decent cops and one of my nephews is a new officer and I know that their jobs are tough and require a lot more of them than is normal for most of us. I find myself in the middle of this national argument, and I think it's imperative that people try to walk a mile in each other's shoes.
What happened to me was nothing compared to some of the horror stories I've read about and heard about regarding people being mistreated by police officers. I'm damned lucky. I'm also a better person for having gone through that event. It made me stronger, and more thoughtful. I hope the country can say the same once this incident finally gets resolved.
I've seen that 'power thing' in police all too often myself Jan, and one female friend of mine got to see it at its worst. While the Gates incident may prove less than perfect in illustrating your point, I hope the FOP, et al don't control the narrative on the Gates incident. It's time to shine a light on these police pathologies. Perhaps doing so will help policemen and women in a little self examination, and ultimately help modify selection and training of our police forces.
July 24, 2009 9:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that the Crowley Gates encounter is less than perfect in illustrating police abuse of power. Gates was insulting and provocative. Yet still I don't see how his behavior raised to the standard needed to warrant a disorderly conduct charge.
What I wonder is if Crowley overreacted in this situation how does he react in situations with less well connected people? By his own words he gave more warnings than is normal.
"He was arrested after following me outside the house, continuing the tirade even after being warned multiple times - probably a few more times than the average person would,"
July 24, 2009 11:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
When I was escaping an abusive ex-bf cross country in the car his father had given us after the ex-bf's mother had passed away (a powder blue '84 Chrysler New Yorker registered in both our names in an and/or type fashion), I was ticketed in Oklahoma City going about 84 mph at around six in the morning.
I was pulled over by a lone young state trooper by the name of Officer Christian.
He made me get out of the car, and I had no issue with that. But then he made me get in the car with him.
I said, "Sir, I'm traveling alone across the country trying to get home to my family, and I don't feel comfortable getting in your car when there's no one else around."
He got shaky with that, and started demanding I sit down in his car with him while he ran my license and registration. I said I'd only sit in the car if I could keep the passenger side door open. He got shaky with that too, but he agreed to let me keep one foot on the ground (no jokes, folks).
For all I knew, he could've been one of those guys that pretends to be a cop (although, his car and badge and equipment looked on the up and up to me -- still, considering my circumstances, I was scared).
He cleared me through the PC and then asked me where I was going and why, and I told him the truth. "I'm leaving an abusive ex-boyfriend and going home to my family and they're waiting for me to get home in time for Thanksgiving."
He lowered the amount of the fine, and wished me a happy homecoming.
The minute I got to my sister's house in NY, I wrote out a check and put "Thank You, Officer Christian" in the memo and mailed it.
He was scared, I was scared, and you never know what the hell you're gonna meet up with out there. But I was speeding. So I paid for it.
July 24, 2009 10:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
That fits with the point I want to make, which is that the typical state police man or woman is unfailingly polite, and respectful even to bearded hippies in weird painted vans (moi in my youth). This proves that it works fine for the policeman to start off being the polite one and to stay that way even when provoked.
In contrast, town and county cops are fond of throwing their weight around. There is no practical basis for contempt-of-cop arrests. Guns and radios get the respect they deserve, as does the behavior of the people using them.
That it is smart to lock your car doesn't mean it's OK to steal an unlocked one. That it's smart to not piss off people that wield handcuffs, radios, and guns, doesn't mean it's OK for those people to push you around.
July 25, 2009 12:23 AM | Reply | Permalink
I've found the state police to fit your description in states that require a bachelors degree as part of their job requirements. I live in a state that only requires a high school diploma/GED plus 30 hours of college work, with an additional 30 hours completed within 2 years of hiring. I've found little overall difference between our state police and local police as regards their propensity for throwing their weight around.
July 25, 2009 12:45 AM | Reply | Permalink
So there's the answer, recruit better cops.
July 25, 2009 10:40 AM | Reply | Permalink
I believe you as someone who knows what it means to be doubted.
July 24, 2009 10:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jan,
I feel for you. It is indeed some scary shit when you are roughed up by someone with the license to use a weapon against you and/or deprive you of your liberty. And just as scary (maybe more) is risking perpetually bad relations with local police, who can get revenge just by delaying their response if you ever have to call for help.
I put my experience in a comment on an earlier post by Desidero. (About comment 100 or so in that thread).
I'm rec'ing this post and rec'ing you as a human being with courage that cop's balls will never contain.
Good on you for getting the local paper to do an investigative write-up instead of ignoring you or doing the usual hit piece on "stupid citizen tangles with valiant officer."
Sleep well. May angels stand watch in your slumbers.
July 24, 2009 10:54 PM | Reply | Permalink
Definitely rec'd. The police (and other LEO's) are the only class of people our society entrusts with both the means of deadly force and the presumption of righteousness when deadly force is used. As such I have absolutely no problem holding this class of people to an exceptionally high standard of conduct. It takes citizens with courage to call out bad behavior. Good work, Jan.
July 24, 2009 11:24 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's really a shame that he lost control, went nuts, and it's great that you got it dealt with. I don't think cops realize how upsetting it can be to be bullied, manhandled; when a cop just threatened me once with going to jail, it upset me for over a year. Your journalist created a political problem with the city, of course, and they needed to stand up.
Your I'm-just-a-woman line was uncalled for, but BTW not as much as Gates's behavior was uncalled for. You had a beef, rightly or wrongly, that the cop was ignoring alleged illegal conduct by the other driver. You had an argument that you were being mistreated and at least had a reason to get upset. In Gates's case, the officer was coming to secure Gates's home (!) in response to a complaint received. It was the officer's duty to find out what was going on. Gates had no right to be offended over that, and should have thanked the guy for taking care of his home! Period!
And here's where the stories become similar. Faced with truly petty provocations, both officers lost it, one in your case and one in Gates' case. The public can be a bit obnoxious, sure. You gotta let some of that just drift if you are a public servant. If we start sassing the lady at DMV, do we get cuffed as well? The police are public servants, they work for us as does the DMV lady. Just because somebody does something inappropriate doesn't give them the right to deprive us of liberty. It's an awesome power that they should use very sparingly, and they didn't in either case.
July 25, 2009 4:24 AM | Reply | Permalink
I am very concerned that lack of integrity in our law enforcement in Washington DC trickles all the way down. If Bush/Cheney can get away with torture, what should other people selectively be allowed to get away with, who are those people, and under what circumstances. We know that there is corruption in many police departments.
We also know that there methods and practices need some review. Didn't Bush cut funding that Clinton had approvedto put extra cops on the street?
One of the things that needs some reviewing apparently is the use of the taser.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/44455/
I am glad you had the courage to ask for help and stand up for yourself in the situation.
Right now the growing disparity between upper and middle class and selective application of law and sentencing of the wealthy is crisis.
July 25, 2009 5:35 AM | Reply | Permalink
Your post will help to further the discussion on the matter. Well done.......
July 25, 2009 8:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
I had a buddy in college who was studying under the GI bill. Had gone to Vietnam, no short cuts for him.
He was in awe of his uncle who was a cop in Milwaukee. He would go on an on about how he had special bullets for the Black men (only he would use another word) because 'Black Men had thicker skulls)
I have no idea if men were actually killed by this monster. But we must underline that blatant racism is not something attendant to the old Confederacy.
Great post.!!!!!!!!!
July 25, 2009 9:49 AM | Reply | Permalink
Grateful for the post and learned from it. Scary thought that some are not "safe" from those that swear to uphold the law. On the whole, with my thankfully few dealings with the police, I have always been treated with respect. However, one never knows, does one?
July 25, 2009 10:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
What these various accounts seem to say about us is how we view (and how much we value) violence.
I am so sorry that any of these things happened in the first place, but I am also cheered by the way some of the stories progressed: with the courage you showed, Jan. And with Dick's apparent forbearance and Lis's patience during what had to be a difficult situation, given her escape from the abusive BF.
But count me in the group that was cheered by Obama's observation that the officer in Cambridge acted less intelligently than was becoming of the uniform he is entitled to wear. I acknowledge Professor Gates's contribution to the incident, but he needed to be finally home from his long journey. What I would really like the MSM to get on is just who was the neighbor- and whether community means any effing thing at all to him or her now that the rest of the world knows it's Gates's recalcitrant door he was struggling with?
If for lack of acquaintance with my neighbor Gates- and in what sort of neighborhood would I be?- I had made the call to the Cambridge Police, I would now come forward in my embarrassment and admit my error, my contribution to the evening's events.
July 25, 2009 12:55 PM | Reply | Permalink
Very courageous Jan.
July 25, 2009 1:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
Best post on this subject. Thanks and rec.
After the incident, Gates described how the hairs on the back of his neck raised the minute Crowley spoke. That is a physiological response, the fight-or-flight response. Crowley couldn't know that Gates was having a fight-or-flight response, he didn't even know at that point that Gates was the homeowner or that Gates was alone in the house.
Crowley admits he was confused by Gates's outward behavior and verbal responses. He didn't know Gates was experiencing an extreme physiological reaction.
We don't know for sure it was a pissing contest, do we? We are hypothesizing about it based on bad experiences we've had with cops, not based on actually witnessing the event with our own eyes.
Meantime, the fight-or-flight response increases your heart rate while constricting some blood vessels and dilating others. Your body is in emergency stress mode. Everyone is discussing Gates as if he were not in emergency stress mode, but he himself describes that he was. For a 58-year-old nonathletic black man, this is a seriously dangerous condition. We frankly have no idea if the arrest had to do with pissing or with making Gates less of a danger to himself.
July 25, 2009 1:38 PM | Reply | Permalink
I agree that Professor Gates' reactions were entirely normal for him. What I don't agree with in your argument is the idea that Sergeant Crowley could not have known that Professor Gates would be feeling fear. Crowley is an expert in racial profiling and racial relations, according to himself and his department. He had to understand that a white police officer confronting a black man in a house would raise the fear and tension levels in that black man. Crowley HAD to have known that. If he didn't know or recognize it, then he has failed at his own claims to expertise. I am a civilian, and I recognize the reactions all cops get from black people at any given time, no matter what they're economic status. I KNOW this. How could Crowley not have guessed or recognized it?
August 2, 2009 8:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
I have witnessed a police officer lie under oath.
My (attractive) daughters have been pulled-over under false pretenses and hit upon...no citations written nor plausible cause given.
I was handcuffed, thrown in the back of police car and locked in a drunk tank for a night for an expired license plate. When I researched this action, I found that (state laws vary) a police officer can jail you for 72 hours without charging you...just trump-up something that justifies the action.
I have seen performances by police officers that I would proudly have as a son or daughter.As with the rest of humanity, people come in many flavors.
My greatest concern is the backgrounds of our latest police recruits. A majority of them have experienced active duty in Iraq or Afghanistan. I fear that PTDS is not easily detectable in many cases. Think long and hard before you demand your rights when you are stopped or approached by those who are dedicated to "Serve and Protect." You may be the equivalent to "just another rag-head" to the officer approaching you.
July 25, 2009 2:39 PM | Reply | Permalink
Years ago my husband's best friend's brother-in-law (who was in the military at the time)proudly used to display a conferederate flag in his bedroom which had been tastefully adorned with a drawing of a hangman's noose. His wife used to often show up with unexplained bruises and I myself witnessed him treating his two pit bulls borderline abusively. A few years ago, he became a Texas Highway Patrolman. The thought of someone like him with almost unchecked power sends chills down my spine.
OTOH, I've met some amazing officers who deserve more recognition, pay, and kudos than they'll ever receive.
Law enforcement officers are capable of acting stupidly just like other human beings. We should be careful about kneejerk reactions (on either side and this is no way directed at the author of this blog) and try and judge each situation independently. There are no professions that I'm aware of that require "sainthood" to show up in a background check.
July 25, 2009 5:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Jan: Would that more women would protest such treatment as you did, however hesitantly.
I have nothing but praise for the police I encountered who maintained relative order in the aftermath of Hurricanes Hugo and Ivan -- men and women who worked endless double shifts and exhibited great patience and kindness.
However. An outwardly normal traffic patrolman (white) in Charleston, SC targeted women for years as opportunities for personal power games. In five years, before he moved on, elsewhere (we hope he was fired, but we don't know) over twenty women I knew personally (both white and black) were pulled over for torment by this particular officer for:
1) allegedly doing 47 in a 35 miles zone (for each woman, the mph cited was 47, which seemed just a tad too coincidental when it was at that number that points were put on the woman's license which raised both the fine and her insurance rates).
2) for failing to wear a seat belt (his word against theirs).
These petty harassments were frustrating, as they were expensive. But in two instances I knew about, he raised the ante beyond taunting harassment to endangerment. Because these two women were arrested, hand-cuffed and taken to the station, booked for "disorderly conduct."
I was not there, in either incident, so I only have the word of the women in question about what actually happened. But because both women were neighbors, known to me over a long time, and this guy had become notorious among us, one certainly tended to believe their version of events over that which filed in his reports.
One of the two women was driving her ten year old child to the airport so that she might board a flight to visit her father. Stopped for alleged speeding and cited for going the now cliched "47" in the aforementioned 35mph zone, the officer began chitchatting once she pulled over, as if to pass the time of day. My neighbor, not wanting to argue with him about the speed, instead implored him to give her a ticket promptly because her child could not miss her flight as, at the other end, her ex-husband was waiting, having driven two hours from where he actually lived to his airport. This unwillingness to play his game did not go down well with our officer. And so he ordered her out of the car, handcuffed her in front of her child and threw her in the back of his squad car, leaving her ten year old in the passenger seat, sobbing in fright, while a woman allegedly from DSS was summoned by phone to take charge of her. My friend then watched through a closed window as her child was taken away to an unknown destination by a woman who was not in unform whose name she did not know, while the officer grinned from ear to ear. She was then taken to the station where she was booked, put in a holding cell, refused information about her son, and offered only one phone call which, of necessity, she used to notify her ex-husband about what had happened, asking him to ascertain where their daughter was, and asking him call a lawyer. (Later, her ex used the incident, unsuccessfully, to sue for custody.)
The second woman, who was African American, was arrested by the same officer in a slightly different scenario, in which she, having stopped at a 4-way stop, waiting her turn and proceeding into the intersection, was broadsided by a male teenager (white) in a pickup truck who ran his stop sign. Trapped in her car because her crumpled door would not open, and injured with a leg that was bleeding and swollen, she was refused permission to go to the ER, in favor of being cited by our hero for running the stop sign herself. Why? Because the teenager said she did. When she protested, vehemently, she was hauled out from the passenger side door by the officer, handcuffed and taken to jail. Luckily, she was released a few hours later, and offered a ride to the ER. But no action was taken against the officer for refusing her medical care in the immediate aftermath of the accident, or for arresting her.
None of these incidents was life threatening. But they were traumatizing to the people involved, because they were unwarranted.
Shortly before the officer left town, while I was at a gas station, I saw the same officer beckoning a teenage girl, probably a hooker, around a corner of the building. Five minutes later she emerged and scurried down the street. A few minutes after that he emerged from the alley, ostentatiously buckling his belt. He sneered at me, saluted, and got into his squad car and drove away.
July 25, 2009 6:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
I had a NEAR similar experience with, if you can believe this, an armed female California state PARK ranger.
I had a campsite reserved and paid for ,for 3 days. Due to unforseen events i arrived very late the first day. my reservation had been cancelled. Even tho all was paid for and there were empty spots available, they would not assign me a spot.
, I said , but, but, what? I don't understand?
Obviously I was dismayed, but too tired to be anything near belligerent, I was just trying to understand what had happened.
ALmost immediately, before I had even asked any questions, the little twit, excuse me, the officer, (i am also female)
put one hand on her weapon and the other palm in front of my face and told me there was nothing i could do or say and if I persisted, she would have to arrest me for being disorderly. she never removed her hand from her weapon. I am an ex park ranger myself, and I couldn't believe what she was doing. I immediately just said OK, zipped my lip, and left.
even that, where there was no physical contact, really frightened and disturbed me.
July 25, 2009 7:37 PM | Reply | Permalink