Patrick doesn't see need for apology

NORTHAMPTON, Mass. (WWLP) - Governor Deval Patrick has been asked to apologize for calling Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s arrest "every black man's nightmare." 22News spoke with the governor, and he said he doesn't know why he should apologize.

Patrick made the comment after a Cambridge police officer arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr., an African American professor at Harvard University, when a 911 caller said it appeared that Gates was breaking into a home.

That home turned out to be his own; and while he explained that to police, Sergeant Crowley said he was acting disorderly.

Governor Patrick said his comment made no judgement about the rightness or the wrongness of Sergeant Crowley's behavior.
He said just like anyone, he still has feelings.

"There's this notion where you're in your own home powerless in the face of authority. It's not just a black man's nightmare, but it's certainly anyone's nightmare," said Gov. Patrick.

Governor Patrick did say that he's happy that President Obama has invited both Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley to the White House for a beer.

He says he hopes this brings some resolution to the controversy.