Seattle man arrested for walking with golf club sues for police reforms

SEATTLE — A Seattle man said Monday that he is suing the city and one of its police officers for answers he said he and the community deserve.

William Wingate, 70, was wrongfully arrested by Officer Cynthia Whitlatch while walking in Capitol Hill in July 2014. It was the first time he had been arrested. He was using a golf club as a cane.

“If you're capable of doing this to me in broad daylight and it's on video, what would you do at night, when nobody's around?” Wingate said.

Wingate, who is African-American, said he believes the arrest was racially motivated.

“Why did she stop me and no other police officer stopped me?” he asked.

He said he is suing the city not only for himself, but for others who could also become victims.

“Most of the policemen are good people,” he said, “but you’ve got rotten apples in all professions. She is a rotten apple. And the police department knows she's a rotten apple. Why do they keep covering up for her?”

Whitlatch claimed that Wingate swung the club at her, even though there was no indication of that on her patrol car’s dashcam.

The charges against Wingate were later dismissed, but several other behavioral complaints about Whitlatch surfaced including one based on racially-charged Facebook posts.

Police Chief Kathleen O'Toole voiced her concerns to KIRO 7 in February.

“There's no place for racial bias in policing,” she said.

O’Toole said Seattle police were moving to a new system connecting complaints filed with the Seattle Police Department and the Office of Professional Accountability, which would allow the department to detect problems earlier.

She also put Whitlatch on paid leave as the city's investigation into her continues.

But one of Wingate's attorneys, Susan Mindenbergs, called the new system “bureaucratic nonsense” Monday night. She and his other attorney, Vonda Sargent, said they want more transparency and better police training with special attention to cultural sensitivities. They said the police department needs to show it has made changes and said that for at least 13 years, Whitlatch was one of the officers responsible for field training new officers as they came out of the police academy.

Seattle police said any comment on this lawsuit would have to come from the city attorney’s office.

A spokesperson with the city attorney’s office told KIRO 7 that their answer will be filed with the court in a few weeks.

KIRO