Arrests

Even the nation's pre-eminent African-American scholar isn't afraid to bust a yo' mama joke -- especially when he's getting busted by cops.

Cambridge police arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. for disorderly conduct last Thursday night. Gates was going into his house when police responded to a call that two black males were breaking in.

According to the police report, 58-year old Gates got into it pretty good with Sgt. Crowley, and that's when ...

"As I began walking through the foyer toward the front door, I could hear Gates again demanding my name. I again told Gates that I would speak with him outside. His reply was "ya, I'll speak with your mama outside."

As you can imagine, the argument got more heated after that and Gates was taken into custody.

Artie Lange just pled not guilty to driving under the influence.

As we first reported, Lange was arrested on Friday after rear-ending another car in Toms River, NJ. Lange's lawyer says he passed an alcohol screening test after the crash -- but cops thought he was under the influence anyway and requested a urine sample. The results of that test aren't in yet.

"Howard Stern Show" funnyman Artie Lange has been open about his battles with drugs and alcohol -- so when he says he wasn't drunk the day he was busted for DUI, we tend to believe him.

Artie proclaimed his innocence during today's show on Sirius. He explained that he was on his way to pick up a prescription for his sick mother when, as we first reported, he rear-ended another car.

Lange said he blew a 0.0 on his Breathalyzer and passed every test the officer gave him -- he said he doesn't know what part he failed.

We've just learned Artie Lange was busted for suspicion of DUI moments ago in New Jersey.

Law enforcement sources tell us the "Howard Stern Show" veteran was arrested about a half hour ago in Toms River after he got into a minor car accident.

Former Jacksonville Jaguars wide receiver Jimmy Smith pleaded not guilty to coke and marijuana possession charges today ... despite the fact cops say they found a bunch of drugs inside his car.

In total, Smith pleaded not guilty to 4 charges -- but got a break when Duval County officials decided to drop a fifth related drug charge.

Smith -- who made five straight Pro Bowls playing for the Jags back in the day -- was arrested on April 22 after cops pulled him over on Interstate 95 for having excessive window tint.

He's due back in court in June.

O.J. Simpson still thinks he's innocent -- 'cause the murdering murderer-slash-armed robber is playin' the race card in the hopes of springing himself from the bowels of a Nevada state prison.

Simpson filed an appeal Tuesday with the Nevada Supreme Court over that hotel room confrontation where he punked two sports memorabilia dealers. Simpson is crying that his conviction was tainted by judicial misconduct, a lack of racial diversity on the jury and errors in sentencing and jury instructions.

This is the mug shot of Jacksonville Jaguars legend Jimmy Smith, who couldn't look happier after his arrest yesterday on multiple drug charges.

Smith was booked into a J-Ville facility yesterday on five charges, including felony possession of cocaine, possession of 20 grams or less of marijuana and "felony possession/sell of a controlled substance."

Smith was released after posting bond.

State troopers pulled over the 40-year-old for an unknown reason. Smith pulled into the gas station, where he was arrested. At some point during the incident, we're told Smith asked the officers if he could use the restroom. Officers obliged and escorted him into the gas station bathroom -- as you can see in the photo on the left.

Smith has a long history of substance abuse -- he was arrested for DUI back in August 2008 and was suspended by the NFL in 2003 for violating the substance abuse policy.

Smith made five straight Pro Bowls playing for the Jacksonville Jaguars. He finished his career seventh in NFL history with 862 catches and 11th in league history with 12,287 yards.

Boy George just has been sentenced to 15 months behind bars for chaining up a male escort in his London apartment.

A British judge handed down the sentence this morning following BG's conviction of falsely imprisoning Audun Carlsen, a Norwegian escort whom he had met on the Internet. The judge called Boy's bondage -- in which he handcuffed Carlsen to a wall hook in Boy's flat -- "premeditated," "callous" and "degrading".

The tape of the incident TMZ posted several days ago has created a furor in the city. There's a hearing today at which a bunch of videos of the incident will be shown and the public will speak out about what should happen to the officers.

It all went down in Shreveport, LA in July. Both actors were arrested for allegedly interfering with an officer. The tape we obtained begins with a passive Brolin -- his arm around fellow-actor Jeffrey Wright -- when a cop pepper sprays him in the face. But it gets more brutal -- when Wright is laying on the ground and it appears a cop repeatedly tasers him.

Brolin and Wright were charged with interfering with a cop during a bar brawl last July. Both actors were pepper sprayed and Wright was tasered.

Under the terms of the deal, as long as they don't have run-ins with the law from now till March 11, all charges will be dropped.

Score another victory for attorney Blair Berk.

This may be the very best police report of 2008. When Charles Barkley was busted in Arizona early NYE morning for DUI, he told cops he ran a stop sign because he was in a hurry to get some oral sex.

According to the officer who wrote the report, "He told me that he ran the stop sign because he was in a hurry to pick up the girl I saw get in the passenger seat."

The officer continues: "He asked me to admit that she was 'hot.' He asked me, 'You want the truth?' When I told him I did he said, 'I was gonna drive around the corner and get a b**w job. He then explained that she had given him a 'b**w job' one week earlier and said it was the best one he had ever had in his life."

The report says when Barkley was taken to the station, he told one of the employees, "I'll tattoo my name on your ass" if he helped "get him out of the DUI." According to the report, "He laughed and then quickly corrected himself and said, 'I'll tattoo your name on my ass' and then laughed again."

TheDirty.com was able to get a copy of Sir Charles Barkley's receipt from the Dirty Pretty Rock Bar where Chuck, Jaleel White (aka Urkel) and Michael Strahan partied well into the morning.