Was arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr. justified?

Concerning the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, Jr., an African-American professor at Harvard University, I concur with the sentiments expressed by Eric Adams, a former police officer, quoted today in the NY Times:

In New York, State Senator Eric Adams, a retired New York City police captain and co-founder of the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement, said the rules for dealing with someone differed by setting.

“If it’s their house, they’re allowed to call you all sorts of names,” Mr. Adams said. “A man’s house is his castle. If they’re in the street, and they don’t listen to the officer’s warning, ‘Sir, you’re being disorderly,’ you can lock them up at this time.”

Not that the officer necessarily should, he said.

“Let’s say I do a stop,” Mr. Adams said. “I question, and it’s nothing. ‘Sir, I’m sorry, I apologize.’ What’s the reason for staying, if the anger’s directed at me? If it’s directed at a third party, a storekeeper, I stay.”

But if the officer himself is the provocation, the officer should leave, he said, and added that Sergeant Crowley did not use such common sense.

Adams' view concurs with the opinion I expressed yesterday in a blog post.