< Back to front page Text size – +

Gates sends flowers to woman who called the police

E-mail|Link|Comments () July 31, 2009 06:03 PM

By John R. Ellement, Globe Staff

Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. has sent a bouquet of flowers and a note to the woman whose 911 call led to his arrest earlier this month.

Wendy Murphy, lawyer and spokeswoman for Lucia Whalen, said today that Gates had sent her client a bouquet of flowers as an "expression of gratitude.'' Murphy said she believed it was a bouquet of tulips. The flowers came with a note from Gates, the contents of which Murphy would not disclose.

"[Whalen] said that she really appreciated it,'' Murphy said. "She's been getting a lot of apologies and people have been saying nice things."

It was Whalen's call about a possible break-in at Gates's home that brought Cambridge Police Sergeant James Crowley to the scene to investigate. Crowley's July 16 arrest of Gates for alleged disorderly conduct in his own home led to a national debate over police relations with minorities.

The controversy over the charge, which was dropped, gained momentum when Gates demanded an apology, Crowley refused, and President Obama jumped into the fray with criticism of the Cambridge police. Obama later said he regretted his choice of words and all three men had a beer at the White House on Thursday, in an attempt to calm the frenzied debate.