[cnn-photo-caption image=http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/07/27/am.intv.wendy.murphy.gates.art.jpg caption="The 911 caller's attorney, says Lucia Whalen is devastated she is being characterized as a racist."]
As the president tries to cool temperatures between the Cambridge police department and Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, the woman who called the police and said there might be a robbery at the professor's home is now speaking out. Her name is Lucia Whalen and her lawyer says she never mentioned race when she called 911. So what exactly did she see and what did she tell police?
Lucia Whalen's attorney, Wendy Murphy spoke with CNN’s Alina Cho Monday.
Alina Cho: Lucia Whalen is said to be a 40-year-old woman of Portuguese descent and said to be personally devastated about this. What did she tell you about what she said in that 911 call?
Wendy Murphy: The thing that we're really emphasizing this morning is what she didn't say. There's no question she never reported seeing quote, unquote “two black men.” And the reason we're clarifying that is number one, it's been widely reported but number two, to falsely characterize Ms. Whalen as a racist, and she is really devastated by that characterization, she never said they were black, indeed, she couldn't tell their race at all.
Cho: But who in your estimation is classifying her as a racist?
Murphy: Well, if you read almost any mainstream news, you'll see some implication that this incident would never have happened, indeed the police never would have been called if the men had been white. That's an implication that the woman who called 911 was acting because she saw quote “two black men." But also if you look at many of the online reporting sites and some of the columnists, they're basically saying had she not been racist and acted in a racist manner in calling 911, had she not been a white woman fearful of the black men in the neighborhood, she wouldn't have thought they were committing a crime and so she is the racist spark that started this mess, and the absolute opposite is true. She didn't see their race, she didn't report their race, she didn't act on race. She acted on behavior. She works nearby, she doesn't live in the area, she was concerned because she knew there were recent break-ins in the area.
Cho: That is initially why she made the call, right, because she was aware of other recent robberies in the area, right?
Murphy: That's exactly right.
Cho: And am I correct in saying that she says she never saw two black men but what she saw were the backs of two men with backpacks. Can you confirm that?
Murphy: No, no, she did not report seeing two men with backpacks.
Cho: What did she say on that call?
Murphy: She said she saw two men who appeared to be breaking into a home and when asked for further description she indicated that she also saw two bags, that's it. That’s it. That's the description she gave. When pressed a bit further, well, can you describe the men? She said I don't want to speculate. I don't want to speculate but if you make me it looks like one of the men might be Hispanic. That's how she described the scene, nothing about black men. And she is absolutely devastated. By the way, she's not even a white woman.
Cho: This is now part of the national conversation. President Obama said last week on Wednesday that he believed that the Cambridge police ‘acted stupidly.’ Two days later he said, well, I could have calibrated those words differently. I'm curious to know what your client thinks about President Obama wading into these waters.
Murphy: However she feels about that, she's not telling me. And I don't think she wants to voice her opinion.
Cho: How do you feel about it?
Murphy: What I want folks to know on behalf of my client is that she believes both sides are respectable and she wants to tamp things down. She doesn't want her clarification of the record to make things worse. She cares about the racism allegation as a person. She does not want to spark any more fights and controversies about the race issue. She's a good person, she was a good citizen and I think we're beginning to see that she was not the racist spark that fueled the fire.