The blogosphere and the editorial pages are filled with commentary favoring one or the other these men. None of the commentators were there and can only conjecture if one or the other or neither was right.
The closest thing we have to being there is a single photo. Gates has his hands cuffed in front and appears to be shouting, a white officer has his hand on Gates back, and a black officer is in the foreground looking stern.
If Gates has his hands in front, I would assume that officers didn't consider him dangerous. The hand on Gates back looks more like the officer is guiding Gates rather than shoving him.
Then we have a second picture of five or six Cambridge police officers. The same black officer who was in the first picture is standing at Sgt. Crowley's side. I would think that this officer's presence would imply that he thought Crowley acted properly.
Third, we have that Gates and Crowley have agreed to meet, which means they are willing to listen to each other.
Outside Cambridge the opinions rage on. Crowley's wrong and Gates is right. No, Crowley's right and Gates is wrong.
We can assume two other things. Gates was tired and irritated because he had returned from a long trip and encountered a stuck door. Crowley responded to a call and began by following usual procedure.
What was it Crowley said? His only mistake was not knowing who Gates was.
