Video shows Seattle cop arresting elderly black man using golf club as cane

http://www.washingtonpost.com ^ | January 29 at 7:53 PM | By Elahe Izadi

[redreno]

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. She did not name the officer, but multiple local outlets have reported her name as Cynthia Whitlatch.

[skinkinthegrass]

*breath out slowly...10..9..8..7..6..*
then swing that club (on the course)

[skinkinthegrass]

"Never took it out of the house."esp. on rainy days...wonder, how long to re-charge?

[SW6906]

Had he not gotten so belligerent, simply set it down and then explained that he was using it as a cane, she likely would have asked him why he waved (swung?) it at her as she alleged. Then, she likely would have just told him not to swing it around and to go on his way. But no, he clearly wanted a confrontation and immediately escalated the situation. That brought out her inner bitch and now my tax dollars are going to give him a nice chunk of change.

[glock rocks]

As I recall, not long, an hour or so.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

...she likely would have asked him why he waved (swung?)...

But he didn't swing the club and was never going to say that he did.

Now what?

[skinkinthegrass]

As I recall, not long, an hour or so.Good thing, Tim Allen (Home Improvement) hadn't seen it!...
ZAPP!

[Kenny Bunk]

The first golf lesson I ever took, the pro said,

"With Women and Golf, Laddie
dinna press,
Let your club do the work."

Mr. Wingate seems to have absorbed that lesson at about the same time I did.

[skinkinthegrass]

Iron of Wood? *snickering*

[Kenny Bunk]

Iron of Wood? *snickering*

Honi soit qui mal y pense, skinko!

[skinkinthegrass]

"Shame on him who thinks ill of it"....WHO ME?

[jcbjrmll]

Some? It seems pretty endemic.

[SW6906]

You don’t know that he didn’t swing the club. It’s (conveniently) missing from the video. I’m just saying that the officer got out of her car and asked him to put down the club. He immediately became belligerent instead of complying with an officer’s lawful request to put down the club for her safety. He escalated it, not her.

[SW6906]

At that point it was game on. he wasn’t going to put it down and she wasn’t going to just give up and leave. If he had simply put it down, NONE of this would have happened.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

You don’t know that he didn’t swing the club. It’s (conveniently) missing from the video.

It's "missing" because it didn't happen.

[Half Vast Conspiracy]

If he had simply put it down, NONE of this would have happened.

If you'd simply cease with the silly arguments, this thread would be over.

[SW6906]

Silly arguments? What am I missing here? I'm standing on a street corner minding my own business, using a golf club as a cane. I didn't swing the golf club at a passing cop car. Cop pulls over, gets out and asks me to set down the golf club.

Stop.

Do I choose to set down the club or start talking back and arguing with the cop?

[SaraJohnson]

Coolest cane anywhere. Dyke.

[Forgotten Amendments]

By Thursday, O’Toole said she had put Whitlatch on desk duty following the discovery of Facebook posts attributed to her. The Stranger reported those comments included her decrying “chronic black racism that far exceeds any white racism in this country. I am tired of black peoples paranoia that white people are out to get them.”

So, the un-PC Facebook posts are the thing that got her in trouble?

They threw this man in jail for DISOBEDIENCE. But that's no problem! If she'd shot him? No prob. But, un-PC Facebook posts? ZERO tolerance!

Everything about this story is terrifying.

[Kenny Bunk]

All you need to know about Seattle

Everything about this story is terrifying.

You know what? You are right.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

If you are using something as a cane you don't "set it down" without risking falling over.

Falling down is dangerous.