professor Gates, a Harvard professor, had returned from a trip to china with a driver when he found his front door jammed, said Charles Ogletree, his lawyer. So he went through the back door to get it open. After that the drive left. Gates was on the phone with the property's management company when Sergeat James Crowley of the cambridge Police Department and his partner arrived, Ogletree added. Crowley asked him to professor Gates, 58, refused to do so, Ogletree step outside said. From that point, the account of the professor and the police began to differ