Charges Against Harvard Prof Dropped

Police: 'a just resolution to unfortunate circumstances'
By Matt Cantor,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 21, 2009 12:26 PM CDT
Charges Against Harvard Prof Dropped
Historian Henry Louis Gates Jr., is seen during an interview in his home in Cambridge, Mass., Friday, Jan. 18, 2008.   (AP Photo/Josh Reynolds)

Charges against Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr have been dropped after he was arrested at his home for “loud and tumultuous behavior,” NBC News reports. The city of Cambridge, Mass., and its police said they had “recommended to the Middlesex County District Attorney that the criminal charge against Professor Gates not proceed,” adding “all parties agree that this is a just resolution to an unfortunate set of circumstances.”

Police had responded to a call from another Harvard employee, who reported seeing “two black males with backpacks on the porch,” one apparently “trying to force entry.” The incident sparked accusations of racism. “This arrest is indicative of at best police abuse of power or at worst the highest example of racial profiling I have seen,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton. Another black scholar called it “very unsettling for African Americans throughout Harvard and throughout Cambridge.”
(More Harvard stories.)

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