Who Is Officer Cynthia Whitlatch? 18-Year Officer Fired Over Her Arrest Of An Elderly African-American Man
Cynthia Whitlatch, a Seattle police officer, had been fired because of her arrest of an old black man who refused to give up the golf club he was using as a cane to help him walk.
Seattle police released a statement saying that officer Cynthia Whitlatch received a termination notice on July 9, 2014 for persistent policy violations involving racism, misuse of police discretion, and escalation of an encounter.
Using the golf club as support, William Wingate 70, was stopped by Whitlatch, according to court records, as he walked down a public sidewalk.
In the incident’s dashboard video, Wingate is seen standing on a sidewalk and idly leaning against the club before the officer arrives and commands him to drop his weapon. Before being arrested, he resisted for a while.
Before Whitlatch arrested Wingate, she claimed that Wingate had swung the club at her. He is not seen using the club at any point in the roughly seven-minute film.
Who Is Officer Cynthia Whitlatch?
A Seattle police officer named Cynthia Whitlatch stood in for the “White Lives Matter” wing of the “Blue Lives Matter” movement. She arrested a 69-year-old guy for allegedly brandishing a weapon.
#BREAKING Seattle Police terminated Officer Cynthia Whitlatch after reviewing golf club arrest from July 2014 pic.twitter.com/mQH2ktsLrN
— KING 5 News (@KING5Seattle) September 15, 2015
William Wingate, age 69, was detained by Officer Cynthia Whitlatch near 12th Avenue and Pike, interrupting his daily stroll from north Seattle to the Central District, where The Facts newspaper was located.
Whitlatch asserts that Wingate swung the golf club while using it as a cane for walking. Wingate is taken into custody by Whitlatch with the assistance of Officers Christopher Coles and Ben Archer. She was the first employee the SPD had terminated due to racial bias in a very long time.
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Officer Cynthia Whitlatch Fired Over Arrest Of Elderly Man
On July 9, 2014, Cynthia Whitlatch was on the lookout in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood when she came into William Wingate walking around with a golf club. Officer Whitlatch believed the golf club to be a weapon because William Wingate is black.
Wingate, who was 69 years old, was walking with a golf club. Whitlatch jumped out of her vehicle and yelled at the aged Air Force veteran to put down his club. Wingate kept repeating to her that he couldn’t hear her after her repeated requests for him to do so.
Seattle police officer Cynthia Whitlatch thinks blacks complain too much about the police. http://t.co/uRw60nUAZ4 pic.twitter.com/maqTVosBCg
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) January 30, 2015
Instead, he inquired as to what was going on. She said that the golf club as a weapon. He told her that he had been carrying it for 20 years. According to Cynthia Whitlatch, Wingate threw it at someone.
She reported that he also ran over a stop sign with it. She claimed to have audio and video of the incident. Wingate wasn’t seen using a club in the footage.
After filing a lawsuit against the city of Seattle, Wingate received a $1,278,479.85 payout from a federal jury, according to the Seattle Times.
Whitlatch was fired by the Seattle Police Department for discriminatory and overly aggressive policing more than a year after she falsely arrested Wingate.
Where Is Officer Cynthia Whitlatch Now?
Officer Cynthia Whitlatch received a notice of termination for repeated rule violations including bias, abuse of police authority, and escalation of interaction on July 9, 2014.
Whitlatch’s settlement allows her to revert her termination to retirement and receive $105,000 in back salary. The contract also states that she will never again work for the police.
In a press statement, Holmes stated that while his staff was ready to challenge Whitlatch’s dismissal, he was constrained by a clause in the police union contract that mandates that an officer be informed of a disciplinary judgment within 180 days of a supervisor discovering the facts of a case.
Whitlatch was still concerned that her termination was a result of her racism. Whitlatch resisted being fired, which resulted in additional expenses for taxpayers above the $1.3 million already spent by the city.
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