Elderly man who was wrongly arrested threatening to sue city

SEATTLE — A former Metro Bus driver and Air Force veteran wrongly arrested by Seattle police is threatening to sue the city.

The arresting officer was reprimanded, but William Wingate says it’s not enough.

Wingate filed a claim for damages, perhaps for as much as $750,000, if it leads to a lawsuit.

He said he was targeted, arrested and embarrassed by a Seattle police officer at 12th Avenue and Pike Street last summer.

Thursday morning, the 70-year-old Wingate sat with his attorney, saying he’s still bewildered by police dash cam video that shows the arrest.

In July, Wingate was walking down the street, using his golf club as a cane, when Seattle police Officer Cynthia Whitlatch stopped him and claimed he had swung his club at her while she was driving by in her patrol car.

“Why would I do that?  I've never seen that woman before.  For what reason?" said Wingate.

KIRO 7 met with Wingate Wednesday.

He said that six months after the incident, he's still having flashbacks and is being treated for post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I don't feel the best.  You know, I still have issues from it,” he said.

Wingate, a former King County Metro bus driver, who had never been arrested before, was cuffed and spent the night in jail for unlawful use of a weapon.

The charges were eventually dropped and SPD apologized.

Something else KIRO 7 uncovered was Officer Whitlatch's Facebook page that contained some interesting posts.

She called last year's riots in Ferguson, Missouri, "chronic black racism" and wrote, "I am tired of black people's paranoia that white people are out to get them."

When someone responded to her post, she called them "another black racist."

SPD is now reviewing those comments to see if more discipline is warranted.

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KIRO