Cop Fails At Using The Z Method For Compliance OR Walking While Black

[icenine]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n_6578966.html

[Tom Joad]

WTF is wrong with these cops in Seattle?

Here's another one.

This time it's pepper sprayed for "walking while black".

They even nailed an older while lady as collateral damage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?x-yt-t...&v=ntjsAuLn5OM

[Rajoo]

Shouldn't the officer be dismissed for giving false testimony? Of course not. As usual, it will cost the tax payers to settle the lawsuit. Aren't unions wonderful?

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by icenine

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n_6578966.html

"...Officer Cynthia Whitlatch ordered the man to drop the golf club, saying he had swung it at her patrol car in a threatening manner and struck a stop sign. A video of the encounter last summer shows that after driving around a block, the officer pulled her cruiser up to a corner where the man, William Wingate, was standing, and yelled at him to drop the golf club.

She told him he had swung it at her, and that audio and video recordings from her cruiser would back up her allegations.

Wingate appeared surprised, seemed to have trouble hearing the officer, and then insisted he had done no such thing. He said he had used the golf club as a cane for 20 years.

Wingate was eventually convicted of unlawfully using a weapon under a plea deal in which the charge would be dismissed if he had no other offenses for two years.

No recordings surfaced to bolster Whitlach's version of events, and after a state lawmaker questioned the arrest, the city attorney's office took another look...

...the chief became aware of troubling Facebook posts made by Whitlatch about a month after the arrest — at a time when protests in Ferguson, Missouri, had gripped the nation's attention. The weekly newspaper The Stranger reported that Whitlatch said she was tired of "black peoples paranoia" and wrote of "chronic black racism that far exceeds any white racism in this country."

Whitlatch is white; Wingate is black...

...In a written statement Thursday, (Chief) O'Toole said she was "shocked and disappointed" on Wednesday to read Whitlatch's comments. She (then) reassigned the officer to desk duty, where she would have no interaction with the public, pending a review of her cases..."

Sum?

1. There was no immediate issue with the original incident.
2. Post Ferguson guilt lead to review finding no supporting video.
3. Officer was stupid on Facebook, got desked.

Folks can argue about the original arrest but it's NOT why she got desked.

[donquixote99]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Sum?

1. There was no immediate issue with the original incident.
2. Post Ferguson guilt lead to review finding no supporting video.
3. Officer was stupid on Facebook, got desked.

Folks can argue about the original arrest but it's NOT why she got desked.

All we can say for sure is that at the time, no one with any influence in the matter recognized an issue with the original incident.

'Post Ferguson guilt?" A pejorative label clearly derived from the familiar meme 'white liberal guilt,' always claimed to be wrong-headed and pathetic. But there is no actual evidence that the Seattle officials are beset with guilt, is there? I'd say refering to a 'post-Ferguson reform-initiative' would put a more positive and appropriate spin on things....

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by donquixote99

All we can say for sure is that at the time, no one with any influence in the matter recognized an issue with the original incident.

'Post Ferguson guilt?" A pejorative label clearly derived from the familiar meme 'white liberal guilt,' always claimed to be wrong-headed and pathetic. But there is no actual evidence that the Seattle officials are beset with guilt, is there? I'd say refering to a 'post-Ferguson reform-initiative' would put a more positive and appropriate spin on things....

Agreed but there's more involved in the Seattle case. Seattle PD is, I believe, under some pretty hefty federal scrutiny now since the DoJ found them to be guilty of a "pattern and practice" of the use of excessive force and of biased policing. Their new chief, Kathleen O'Toole, was hired to address these issues and institute reforms.

John

[Boreas]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Sum?

1. There was no immediate issue with the original incident.
2. Post Ferguson guilt lead to review finding no supporting video.
3. Officer was stupid on Facebook, got desked.

Right! Do whatever the fuck you want but, for Christ's sake, don't talk about it!

Especially on social media!

Folks can argue about the original arrest but it's NOT why she got desked.

See above. And how the hell can "folks" argue about what was clearly a case of a bad cop illegally busting some poor civilian out of pure cussedness?

After the Department became aware of the totally bogus way that Wingate had been "jacked up" by Whitlatch, they had her immediate supervisor "counsel" her. I don't know whether Chief O'Toole knew of or approved this decision but she has subsequently described it as appropriate. It was only after Whitlatch's FB rant came to light that the Department deemed more was necessary.

The idea is, frankly, that it's okay to employ abusive police practices as long as you're not seen to be employing abusive practices.

John

[merrylander]

Originally Posted by Boreas

Right! Do whatever the fuck you want but, for Christ's sake, don't talk about it!

Especially on social media!



See above. And how the hell can "folks" argue about what was clearly a case of a bad cop illegally busting some poor civilian out of pure cussedness?

After the Department became aware of the totally bogus way that Wingate had been "jacked up" by Whitlatch, they had her immediate supervisor "counsel" her. I don't know whether Chief O'Toole knew of or approved this decision but she has subsequently described it as appropriate. It was only after Whitlatch's FB rant came to light that the Department deemed more was necessary.

The idea is, frankly, that it's okay to employ abusive police practices as long as you're not seen to be employing abusive practices.

John

John that is he eleventh commandment 'Don't get caught'.

[nailer]

The most concerning part of this is the officer's opinion on racism in America. Might the police be becoming as paranoid as those who are living in those portions of the country that are being run as a police state?

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by icenine

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/0...n_6578966.html

Wingate was eventually convicted of unlawfully using a weapon under a plea deal in which the charge would be dismissed if he had no other offenses for two years.

No recordings surfaced to bolster Whitlach's version of events, and after a state lawmaker questioned the arrest, the city attorney's office took another look. Prosecutors dismissed the conviction, and the police department apologized for the arrest and returned his golf club. The department said this week the officer had "received counseling" from her supervisor — which O'Toole initially deemed an appropriate resolution.

Original conviction was on a plea deal. Upon subsequent examination of the circumstances leading to the conviction, having found no evidence to support the officer's testimony (statement?), prosecutors asked for a dismissal and the PD apologized. Now there is a $750K lawsuit which will be settled.

What is here to spin Zeke? Admit it, this case is indefensible especially when both the DA and the PD have said wrong and sorry.