It looks like the police may have more problems with the Gates arrest. The City of Cambridge released the 911 tape. The caller did not claim that she saw two men breaking into the house.

The caller, Lucia Whalen, told the dispatcher she was calling on behalf of an older woman who lived on the street and had seen the men — who turned out to be Professor Gates and his cabdriver — forcing their way into the home. Police officials have said the older woman had just moved into the neighborhood. Ms. Whalen, 40, works on the block.

“They kind of had to barge in, and they broke the screen door and they finally got in,” Ms. Whalen said on the recording, adding that she had also seen two suitcases on the porch.

She later said, “I don’t know if they live there and just had a hard time with their key.”

The City also released a tape of Sergeant Crowley’s radio communications with the police dispatcher.

After Sergeant Crowley arrived at the home, according to the tape, he radioed that he was with a man who “says he resides here,” but he described him as “uncooperative” and asked for backup, saying, “Keep the cars coming.” He also asked the dispatcher to “send the Harvard University police this way.”

More and more it does look like the police over-reacted.