Officer Who Arrested 69-Year-Old Man Using Golf Club As Cane Reassigned To Desk Duty

No recordings surfaced to bolster Whitlach's version of events, and after a state lawmaker questioned the arrest, the city attorney's office took another look. Prosecutors dismissed the conviction, and the police department apologized for the arrest and returned his golf club. The department said this week the officer had "received counseling" from her supervisor — which O'Toole initially deemed an appropriate resolution.

But then the chief became aware of troubling Facebook posts made by Whitlatch about a month after the arrest — at a time when protests in Ferguson, Missouri, had gripped the nation's attention. The weekly newspaper The Stranger reported that Whitlatch said she was tired of "black peoples paranoia" and wrote of "chronic black racism that far exceeds any white racism in this country."

The Seattle Police Department has made several changes prompted by a Justice Department investigation that found signs of biased policing, as well as evidence that officers are too quick to use force, especially in low-level situations.

He looked pretty healthy. I think a healthy 70 year old swinging a 9 iron at your head could do some damage.

Sooner or later she has to be dealt with. Sooner for all of seattle is better. Who needs her.
She should have been fired

yes. from 25 feet and she in her car. yep, gonna do some damage to her head.

no need, as she clearly has no brain to begin with.

It was apparent he was not swinging nor was he going to swing it at her or anyone else. She (IMHO) should have figured that out in about 2 seconds. Instead she went into "power trip" mode.

Besides she was way over on the other side of the police cruiser. She could have actually stayed in her damn car and used the PA if she really wanted to play it safe. What a dumbass....smh....

Everyone should read this article carefully.

Officer Who Arrested 69-Year-Old Man Using Golf Club As Cane Reassigned To Desk Duty

Sigh, no, clearly not when she was in her car. If you read all of my posts, you'll notice that I agree with the fact that swinging a golf club on a sidewalk while a car is in the road is not a problem.

But if you again, read what I said, you should realize that I was addressing what Baz said which was, I thought, pretty clearly about the time period when she stopped her car and got out and wanted to approach the little old man. If for some reason you thought someone was going to be aggressive towards you, and that person was holding a golf club, you might maintain a safe distance or ask them to put the club down.

Really? You couldn't follow the text of the posts? Or is it just more fun of you ignore the meaning of the post and get to be a smart ass?

Ha - well said, Steve.


The worst part is he failed to use the appropriate font color!

Nothing personal Nynor....just some harmless ribbing - we don't even have golf clubs in our hand! ;)

I agree, she seemed to go over the line. I also think the old man shares some of the blame.

My impression was that she was going to ask the guy to put down the golf club, and then she was probably going to approach him to talk to him. How benign or not that talk was going to be is anyones guess. It may have defused and ended in short order or she may have tackled him to the ground. Who knows?

In this day and age when the cops are hated and there are people talking about killing them just because, I can understand being a bit cautious.

Also, with this old man essentially telling the cops, F-you, that sort of behavior is seen and rubs off on the younger generation. And that sort of behavior trickles down to angry 17 year olds that decide to swing at cops or shoot at them. And since that's already a big problem, doesn't it seem like we should be trying to show a good example, rather than making things worse?

clearly, it is more fun to be a smart ass.

however, she had no reason to stop, let alone exit her vehicle. if there was an unsafe situation there, she created it all on her brainless own.

are these any more or less a 'weapon':

http://blog.walkingcaneco.com/

so, i stand by my post. yes, it was smart ass. it was also an accurate interpretation of scenario in the video. "that is a weapon!" buhahahahahaha!

she is lucky that he wasn't carrying a bowling ball..... that's a weapon!

it is this kind of behavior by the police that has exacerbated the behavior displayed by the old man.

I agree, she seemed to go over the line. I also think the old man shares some of the blame.

My impression was that she was going to ask the guy to put down the golf club, and then she was probably going to approach him to talk to him. How benign or not that talk was going to be is anyones guess. It may have defused and ended in short order or she may have tackled him to the ground. Who knows?

In this day and age when the cops are hated and there are people talking about killing them just because, I can understand being a bit cautious.

Also, with this old man essentially telling the cops, F-you, that sort of behavior is seen and rubs off on the younger generation. And that sort of behavior trickles down to angry 17 year olds that decide to swing at cops or shoot at them. And since that's already a big problem, doesn't it seem like we should be trying to show a good example, rather than making things worse?

there it is

That "cop" had no business stopping William Wingate. She had zero probable cause.

Wingate is a retired bus driver in that area.

A little tale about our fine officer and a harassment report that one of Wingates co-workers filed back in 2011.

Metro Bus Driver Says She Was Also Bullied by Officer Cynthia Whitlatch, Warned SPD Years Ago | Slog

Makes you wonder if she recognized him and maybe had an axe to grind.

What "Officer" Whitlatch's former partner, as in lover, has to say about her.

Ex-Girlfriend Says Golf Club Cop Cynthia Whitlatch Is "a Racist" Who Once "Stole Marijuana" from SPD Evidence | Slog

Whitlatch is a piece of **** and hopefully she will be looking for a new career soon.

And to all you who think Wingate should have just complied, that is how problem cops like Whitlach are able to get away with their atrocious behavior.

When we as the public sit back and capitulate to out of control cops their transgressions remain hidden and they are free to continue to harass innocent civilians with impunity.

You guys are part of the problem, hope it does not bite you in the ass one day.

You sir have obviously play a round of links with me...

if you can hit me while i am inside a car from 25 feet with your club, i'd love to see it. :)

Someone in a uniform tells you what to do, you say "Yessuh Massah" and do it. Easy really, when you live in a police state.

You guys that don't agree with doing what the cops tell you to do and calling it a "police state" are painting with a pretty broad brush. Let's just say 90% of cops do the right thing. So with 10% being bad we now have a "police state"? :rolleyes:

Were you guys protesters in Ferguson too?