09-17-2015, 03:39 AM
Seattle officer who arrested black man carrying golf club as a cane fired
9-16-2015
The white Seattle officer who arrested an African-American man she claimed swung a golf club at her was fired Tuesday for her racial bias and combative approach, the city's police chief said.
Officer Cynthia Whitlatch drew an outcry when the video of the July 2014 arrest showed William Wingate, 69, doing nothing besides leaning on the club like a cane.
The probe faults Whitlatch for her aggression towards Wingate near 11th Avenue and E. Pike Street in the city’s Capitol Hill area. Whitlatch told investigators she had seen a blur out of the corner of her eye and heard the sound of metal striking metal, which she took for Wingate hitting a stop sign with the club. She said Wingate then glared at her. Yet the dashcam video shows a man just standing on a street corner as she drives up.
9-16-2015
The white Seattle officer who arrested an African-American man she claimed swung a golf club at her was fired Tuesday for her racial bias and combative approach, the city's police chief said.
Officer Cynthia Whitlatch drew an outcry when the video of the July 2014 arrest showed William Wingate, 69, doing nothing besides leaning on the club like a cane.
The probe faults Whitlatch for her aggression towards Wingate near 11th Avenue and E. Pike Street in the city’s Capitol Hill area. Whitlatch told investigators she had seen a blur out of the corner of her eye and heard the sound of metal striking metal, which she took for Wingate hitting a stop sign with the club. She said Wingate then glared at her. Yet the dashcam video shows a man just standing on a street corner as she drives up.
