Seattle police chief faced with tough personnel decision

Seattle Police Chief Kathleen O’Toole is currently faced with a decision: Whether or not to fire an officer under scrutiny over her arrest of an elderly black man who was carrying a golf club.

An internal investigation resulted in a recommendation to fire the officer. O’Toole is expected to announce her decision within days, according to The Seattle Times.

Officer Cynthia Whitlatch said that William Wingate, then-69 years old, swung a golf club in a threatening manner as she drove past him on Capitol Hill in July of 2014. Wingate refutes that accusation and said he has used the golf club as a cane for decades. Whitlatch arrested Wingate, which was caught on a dash cam. He is suing the city over the incident.

“This is an easy call on Kathleen O’Toole’s part because the police chief has already received an investigation that recommends the officer should be let go,” said KIRO Radio’s Tom Tangney. “It doesn’t seem like it’s such an outrageous decision on her part, and it would cause great upset in the city if she didn’t let her go.”

Co-host John Curley agreed.

“You throw her out. You have to throw her out,” he said.

“It’s the slightest little bit of a liability,” Curley said. “If a person even gives any indication, the slightest little bit of an indication &#8212 even though she might not be a racist and probably isn’t a racist &#8212 you just can’t have that vulnerability.”

But why Officer Whitlatch should be “thrown out” is another matter. Tom maintains that after an investigation, it is clear that wrong-doing happened and that’s that. He said that clearly some sort of racist occurrence happened.

The issue of racism was compounded in the case after it was discovered that Officer Whitlatch posted some of her thoughts on Facebook that came across as racist. “I am tired of black peoples paranoia that white people are out to get them…I am tired of black people saying poor poor me when other races and genders and homeless and gays suffer far more prejudice than any black man does in the US,” were a few of those thoughts.

But Curley argued that she should be gone because of other, outside factors. One big factor is the relationship the police department has with the public. Curley said it is better to fire the officer than face public outcry.

The Times reports Ron Smith, head of the Seattle Police Officers’ Guild, says the recommendation to fire Whitlatch is flawed and he has vowed an appeal if it happens.