Resolved: disorderly conduct arrests are bogus.

This situation sounds totally FUBARed and obviously the cop should not have arrested Professor Gates, but I am befuddled by the number of people who seem to think that the 911 caller and the cop should have recognized Gates by sight. Cambridge is a densely populated urban area full of NPR-famous people. I'm sure that I passed many of Gates's stature while strolling about Cambridge and failed to recognize their august presences (ditto in DC). And one can't help but wonder whether these same people who are aghast that Gates could go unrecognized would take a very different line re: "don't you know who I am?!?" were this a similarly prominent actor or pro athlete.