William Wingate, 70, Arrested July 9, 2014 in Seattle Using Golf Club as Weapon

Via Raw Story:

The Seattle Police Department (SPD) has launched an investigation into an incident in which an officer arrested an elderly veteran who was using a golf club as a walking stick.

The arrest has sparked outrage in the city and calls for the officer, Cynthia Whitlach, to be fired. She has been put on desk duty while the investigation continues.

On Thursday, Mayor Ed Murray discussed the incident with police chief Kathleen O’Toole, who took up her post last summer promising reform.

Officer Whitlatch, who is white, arrested 70-year-old William Wingate, who is black, in the city last July on charges of obstruction, after accusing him of “swinging” the golf club at her. But a video and audio recording of the encounter on the sunny street, captured on the police cruiser’s camera, showed Wingate did nothing of the sort.

(VIDEO OF INCIDENT BELOW)

News of the investigation follows an incident earlier this month , in which a member of the public shot footage of a Seattle police officer pepper-spraying a male teacher and a middle-aged woman who were walking away from a protest march.

In 2011, a US Department of Justice investigation into the SPD found a pattern of excessive force and possible bias . Whitlatch was one of more than 100 officers who filed a lawsuit last year to knock down the agreement between the city and the DoJ , although that lawsuit failed in October .

Whitlatch also made widely reported comments on Facebook about “black racism” and African Americans blaming their problems on whites.

Seattle police released video footage of the encounter between Whitlatch and Wingate. In the video, Whitlatch is seen encountering Wingate on a street corner. He is leaning on the golf club, and the officer can be heard calling from her cruiser for him to put the club down, because it is a weapon.

In a surprised and puzzled tone, Wingate asks “What?”

He then tells Whitlatch he has been using the club as a cane for 20 years. She starts shouting at him to “set down” or “shut down” the club – the audio is not entirely clear.

Wingate is holding a small shopping bag in one hand and the club in the other – he raises his arms in a slight shrug of apparent confusion and irritation. At that point, Whitlatch shouts: “You swung that golf club at me.”

The exchange continues until another officer arrives and an arrest is made.

Wingate spent the night in jail. The case against him was later dismissed; the police have apologised.

William Wingate, 70, was arrested last summer for "walking in Seattle while black

In November, Wingate’s attorney, Susan Mindenbergs, filed a claim against the city. The claim, which seeks at least $750,000 in damages, says Wingate’s civil rights were violated and his only crime was “walking in Seattle while black”.

The Seattle King County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People said the actions by the SPD were “too little, too late”.  It has called for Whitlatch to be fired.

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Dashcam Footage Proves Seattle Cop Lied To Arrest Elderly Man

William Wingate had been standing on a busy Seattle street corner in July, leaning on a golf club he uses as a cane, when a police cruiser pulled up and the officer inside yelled at Wingate to “put that down.”

The resulting exchange — in which the officer claims that Wingate swung the club at her after she asked him to “shut it down” before she arrested him – was captured on the cruiser’s dashboard camera, the footage of which Seattle Police released this week as it apologized for the 2014 incident.

The response to that video prompted Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole to announce Wednesday that she was ordering a comprehensive review of the officer’s performance during Wingate’s arrest and another incident. A department spokesperson identified the officer as Cynthia Whitlatch

Update:Police Arrest Public Defender For Refusing To Allow Police IntimiThe San Francisco deputy public defender who was arrested at the Hall of Justice for allegedly obstructing police filed a misconduct complaint Thursday against the city officers who handcuffed her when she questioned why they were photographing one of her clients outside a courtroom. Attorney Jami Tillotson took her case to the civilian Office of Citizen Complaints after Police Chief Greg Suhr told the Police Commission late Wednesday that the department will not pursue charges against her. Suhr apologized “for any distress Ms. Tillotson suffered as a result of her detention,” but he stood by the actions of Sgt. Brian Stansbury and the other officers who arrested the lawyer. Suhr’s announcement came at the same meeting in which the American Civil Liberties Union called for a review of police policy, saying last week’s courthouse incident, which was filmed and viewed on YouTube millions of times, raised serious questions about tactics and racial profiling. Tillotson’s client is black. “While I appreciate Chief Suhr’s apology, I am concerned that he continues to support Sgt. Brian Stansbury’s actions,” Tillotson said in a statement Thursday. “My client, a young African American man, was left without the benefit of advice of counsel. The right to counsel is not a formality. It is a shield that protects ordinary people against intimidation, bullying, and overreach by law enforcement.”

The San Francisco deputy public defender who was arrested at the Hall of Justice for allegedly obstructing police filed a misconduct complaint Thursday against the city officers who handcuffed her when she questioned why they were photographing one of her clients outside a courtroom.

Attorney Jami Tillotson took her case to the civilian Office of Citizen Complaints after Police Chief Greg Suhr told the Police Commission late Wednesday that the department will not pursue charges against her. Suhr apologized “for any distress Ms. Tillotson suffered as a result of her detention,” but he stood by the actions of Sgt. Brian Stansbury and the other officers who arrested the lawyer.

Suhr’s announcement came at the same meeting in which the American Civil Liberties Union called for a review of police policy, saying last week’s courthouse incident, which was filmed and viewed on YouTube millions of times, raised serious questions about tactics and racial profiling. Tillotson’s client is black.

“While I appreciate Chief Suhr’s apology, I am concerned that he continues to support Sgt. Brian Stansbury’s actions,” Tillotson said in a statement Thursday. “My client, a young African American man, was left without the benefit of advice of counsel. The right to counsel is not a formality. It is a shield that protects ordinary people against intimidation, bullying, and overreach by law enforcement.”