" In dealing with police it is wise to show some deference to their position whether they are acting correctly or not."
   Roger in Baltimore

Which reminds ME of the time I was with a group of young, black civil rights workers in Hattiesburg, Miss. in 1964. (voter registration drive) We were walking to a meeting about 8PM...dark outside... when a police car stopped and two officers decided to 'question' us.
One boy said to the group..."Keep walkin', we ain't done nothin'!"...but I had a feeling that was not a good idea. I said, "It's ok...we'll just answer their questions." (Note...I was the only white guy in the group, and had only been in town for 3-4 days, and had NO authority to tell the group to do or not do anything..)...but the cop said, "Yeah...you better talk to us...this heah's an in-ves-ti-gation. We had a lot of Nawthun agitators 'roun heah recently." (I think that's pretty close to an exact quote.)

Well, since we WERE going to a meeting, and were within two blocks of being there, there was not much 'in-ves-ti-gating' they could really do...all they wanted was to hassle us, and look for a reason to do more. After we explained where we were going, they sent us off with a grumpy 'warning' to "stay off the streets".

Now...what I left out was that when the police stopped, a tall, young white guy also got out of the police car, and just stood in the background while we were questioned. When I asked the guys later what he was doing there, they said."You mean you didn't GET that? He's a football player on the high school team! They don't want any more stories about police beating up 'agitators', so this kid tags along, and if there's a need, HE beats you up and the cops explain that 'this helpful citizen came to our aid when these 'trouble-makers' refused to cooperate with the police'."

Of course, that WAS the deep South in a different time...but the point is still there, as Roger points out. Some police are just hoping you'll give them some excuse to 'assert their authority', even if they know it will not come to much.

If Dr. Gates had been alone, and if the cops had not known the neighbor might still be watching, more 'might' have happened.

It all reminds me of the poem used as an epitaph...

"Here lies the body of Henry Gray,
Who died defending his right-of-way.
He was right- dead right- as he sped along,
But he's just as dead as if he'd been dead wrong."