Man arrested and jailed for using golf club as a cane files civil rights suit
A retired Washington state bus driver who also served in the U.S. military and Air Force Reserve spent nearly 70 years on the planet without being arrested.
But that changed last year when William Wingate was stopped by a Seattle police officer for walking down the street with a golf club in his hand. She said he was swinging the golf club at her in a threatening manner. He said he was using it as a cane, reports the Seattle Times.
The officer is white and Wingate is black. Cynthia Whitlatch drove around the block after first encountering Wingate and activated the camera on her patrol vehicle. It did not substantiate her claim about the manner in which Wingate was using the golf club, and he argued about her demand that he drop the golf club, insisting that he had done nothing wrong, the newspaper recounts.
Wingate, who is now 70, left the scene in handcuffs and spent over a day in jail, waiting nearly eight hours to be given water, says a civil rights suit he filed last week in King County Superior Court. Booked for obstruction and harassment, and charged with unlawful use of a weapon to intimidate, a misdemeanor, he eventually took a plea deal. In January, the case was dismissed and the city apologized and returned Wingate’s golf club, after questions were raised about the case.
One issue, at least currently, is Whitlatch’s social media posts: The suit says she made derogatory racial comments about blacks on her personal Facebook page last summer, around the time she arrested Wingate.
He says he suffered post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of the criminal case pursued against him. The suit asserts claims for race discrimination, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress, as well as the alleged civil rights violation, and seeks $750,000 in damages.
At the time of his arrest, Wingate had been walking to get copies of a newspaper to deliver to fellow church members at an assisted-living facility, the suit says.
Whitlatch reportedly remains on desk duty while an internal police investigation continues. The Seattle Times article doesn’t include any comment from either the officer or the city concerning the lawsuit. Both are named as defendants.
