A Beer For The Guys -- A Leech For The 911 Caller

What Obama, Gates & Crowley got

What Lucia Whalen got

Poor Lucia Whalen.

First she was mis-represented. By Sgt. James (Jim) Crowley.

Now -- even worse -- she's being badly represented. By Wendy Murphy -- one of the Gloria Allred school of lawyers.

The type who attach themselves to hapless prey thrust into the public spotlight by promising to protect them. It can be Amber Frey or Lucia Whalen. To a parasitic lawyer -- they all provide the perfect client. A naive unworldly female being buffeted by the media. Susceptible to "there-there" cooing and the promise to protect them.

Then -- before you can say blood-sucking leech -- the lawyer proclaims a full-court press conference. With the lawyer at center-stage of course. The lust for that much craved for limelight is temporarily satiated. The klieg lights and shrubbery of media microphones are the lifeblood of your average Allred/Murphy.

Lucia does need legal representation

But she does not need a lawyer who exploited the opportunity of the press conference to make snarky remarks about President Obama and "guys" sharing a beer.

What a lawyer for Lucia Whalen should be doing is investigating the reason why Lucia Whalen was erroneously accused of being racist.

The tape of the 911 phone call that Whalen made -- is crystal clear.

She made no reference to "black men with backpacks"

So where did the meme get into the ether that the 911 caller might be racist?

Easy.

From the official police report filed by Sgt. James (Jim) Crowley.

"When I arrived at [redacted] Ware Street I radioed ECC and asked that they have the caller meet me at the front door to this residence. I was told that the caller was already outside. As I was getting this information, I climbed the porch stairs toward the front door. As I reached the door, a female voice called out to me. I turned and looked in the direction of the voice and observed a white female, later identified as Lucia Whalen.

Whalen, who was standing on the sidewalk in front of the residence, held a wireless telephone in her hand and told me it was she who called. She went on to tell me that she observed what appeared to be two black males with backpacks on the porch of [redacted] Ware Street."

Ahh! So Whalen blabbed about the race of the would-be intruders to Crowley when he arrived at the scene.

Well actually... according to Whalen's account (at her press conference yesterday) of her conversation with Crowley on the day of the arrest:

"The only words I exchanged were 'I was the 911 caller' and he pointed to me and said 'Stay right there'. Nothing more than that."

So instead of Murphy trotting her client out in front of the media yesterday -- and then grandstanding with her own self-serving commentary on the issue -- including her predictable tarring of President Obama -- she should have been hard at work demanding to know how and why her client was falsely cited in Crowley's report.

We didn't see or hear that because it isn't part of Wendy Murphy's self-serving agenda

Poor Lucia Whalen.

She needs a professional lawyer concerned for her reputation -- as distinct from a shameless publicity hound intent on Allred-ing herself into this story as yet another limelight opportunity.

It's not as though Crowley has a stellar track record on this matter.

So far the two key people in this matter -- Professor Gates and Lucia Whalen -- have both utterly refuted his official report.

So while Crowley gets the 15 minutes of White House fame -- and a free beer -- that he inveigled out of the President -- perhaps a decent lawyer will come forward and offer to represent Lucia Whalen.

And her friends and family can help her rid of herself of the parasite that has recently attached herself to Lucia.

Follow Martin Lewis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/TheMartinLewis

Comments

[BobLablah]

This issue is just as important as the birther story. And maybe even as important as a story about what Spidey is up to this weekend.

[Martin Lewis - Huffpost Blogger]

I suggest you put your sarcastic take on this matter to the large numbers of people of color and others who have been treated with suspicion and disrespect by public employees who are OUR servants and whose salaries are paid for by US. It should not be impossible to have respect for the police and the difficult job they do protecting us AND at the same time expect them to not be so de-sensitized that they treat innocent members of the public with suspicion, arrogance and hubris.

[goldnchyl]

HuffPost's Pick

You are so right and I so appreciate your well thought-out article. In spite of the glaring and obscene injustices that have occurred at the hands of the police over the years, I still see this as an opportunity for a real conversation. But as a friend of mine asked me recently, 'what is the motivation for white people to have this conversation?' I know this doesn't apply to all. The evolution of thought and humanity that has propelled this great country to such heights in comparative short period of time has happened because of our diversity, IMHO. But many whites benefit from just being white without a clue that this is the case. Or maybe there is a clue, but what would be the motivation for most to change things? I feel that a necessary healing is available to both black & white when we're honest with each other and, even more importantly, ourselves. Its a stain that serves only a political machine that benefits from the distraction of racism. If we're fighting each other, we're not fighting them and not realizing that we're all in the same boat, together.

[OverIt]

Amen!

Those who owe Whalen an apology are Crowley himself and the Cambridge PD who with their fraudulent report have taken CYA to a whole new level in trying to justify their unjustifiable actions against Gates at the expense of this woman’s reputation and peace of mind.

Frankly, after hearing the 911 tapes, I regret wholeheartedly that POTUS invited Crowley for that beer. Crowley doesn’t deserve it after his fabricatio­ns/outrigh­t lies contained in the police report.

There are some who explain away his blatant inconsistencies (based on the 911 call itself and Whalen’s credible account) by proposing that Crowley may have been excited and distracted by the prospect of a breaking and entering in progress. My take is that if Crowley is SO distracted or anxious on the job, perhaps it's time for a vacation or retirement! We count on our police officers to have recall that at least APPROXIMATES reality. We don't expect them to be "hearing voices" and making up "facts" out of thin air because they are anxious or stressed. People's lives and liberty depend on this.

If Crowley is not up to the job, he should look into other work.

[antuck]

What I don't understand is why so much is being put into Lucia Whalen. She made a phone call. Even if she did say two black men were on the porch, what is wrong with that? Gates is black so she would be at lease 50% correct. I don't know the race of the driver so I can't say 100% but really who cares? The tape proved she didn't state any race so it is the media who blew this one.

[Martin Lewis - Huffpost Blogger]

The media and bloggers DID blow it. By blindly believing what Crowley put in his report. And that fueled the media and blogger attacks on Whelan. Now we have Gates AND Whelan BOTH refuting Crowley's report. Time for an independent investigation. There was no reason for Whelan to be trotted out to read a statement in front of TV cameras. A simple written statement would have sufficed. But how would that have satisfied Wendy Murphy?

[OverIt]

It is the Cambridge PD who blew this one by fabricating statements that Whalen never made. And the media is only CONTINUING to blow this one by failing to follow up on why there were so many inconsistencies --- if not outright lies --- the police report as proved by the 9-1-1 tapes and Whalen's statements.