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.