Watch what Sgt. Leon Lashley has to say about the arrest
A black police officer who witnessed the arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates is now speaking up. Sgt. Leon Lashley says he saw what happened and he supports Sgt. James Crowley 100 percent.
Lashley was outside the Gates home when Crowley entered to confront the Harvard scholar. He believes Gates overreacted.
“Do I think he was out of line? And should he have been arrested? I feel that he was probably tired and he was surprised to see Officer Crowley in his house,” said Lashley.
“His reaction was a little bit stranger than what it normally would have been.”
Sgt. Lashley also says he’s willing to overlook the disparaging comments President Obama made about the Cambridge Police Department last week.
Said Lashley, “It’s unfortunate that [Obama] said what he said. I would probably give it a mulligan. Let him take it back. Everyone makes mistakes.”