"But he took offense and decided he had the right to arrest a man for getting angry, for calling this special cop, this holier than anyone cop, names.

That was stupid. That was worse than stupid. it was emotional. It was abuse of police power. It is exactly the kind of thing that happens to blacks, to latinos, to teenagers all over America. A cop uses his power to arrest in a way that goes beyond the situation. He arrests someone for an attitude, for cross words, for a glare or dirty look. "

right. power must be wielded with wisdom and restraint and as much absence of ego as possible or else it abuses...

Altho, a man in his own home does not have the right to be arrogant, and abusive towards a law enforcement officer.
Why can't we turn this around and say that the professor should have been thankful to the officer for performing his duty and looking out for him as a citizen. I think any officer ( black, white, latino) has the right to arrest an citizen who is being disruptive and abusive towards the law. I do agree however, that it was all too emotional.

It seems to be a case of two basically good people caught in an emotionally bad situation.

"Once he was in the home of Henry Louis Gates Jr. and had confirmed that Gates belonged there and was not engaging in any illegal behavior, he should have apologized and left the scene."

Finally! Thank heavens somebody is finally saying the obvious!

The officer claims that he only saw one black male (Gates) and wanted to confirm who the second was before he left the scene, just in case the second person was an intruder Gates didn't know about. I'm quite willing to believe that Gates overreacted and got obnoxious, but I doubt that it ever got to the point that would justify an arrest.

@kareval -

Altho, a man in his own home does not have the right to be arrogant, and abusive towards a law enforcement officer.

That is not illegal in Massachusetts.
http://clipmarks.com/clipmark/FD6FE81B-FD10-459D-B0E3-A6865084E0B2/