Federal jury rules for black man carrying a golf club that Seattle cop considered a weapon

SEATTLE – A federal jury found Tuesday that former Seattle police Officer Cynthia Whitlatch engaged in racial discrimination when she arrested an African-American man carrying a golf club as a cane that she viewed as a weapon.

In a unanimous finding, the eight-member jury awarded $325,000 to William Wingate.

The lawsuit stemmed from Whitlatch’s arrest of Wingate while he was walking with the golf club in Seattle on July 9, 2014.

Jurors heard closing arguments Monday before retiring to decide whether Wingate, 72, should be awarded at least $750,000 and possibly more in punitive damages over his arrest by Whitlatch, who was fired as a result of the incident.

Whitlatch, who is white, denied that race influenced her decision to detain Wingate after he, according to her testimony, swung a golf club toward her patrol car as she drove past him.

Wingate maintained that he never swung the club.

No patrol-car video captured the incident. But jurors watched video of a heated exchange between Whitlatch and Wingate when she confronted him and ordered him to drop the golf club.

Wingate was arrested for investigation of unlawful use of a weapon and obstructing a police officer. He was held in jail for 30 hours.

City prosecutors pursued only a weapon charge, and Wingate agreed to a continuance of his case, under which the misdemeanor charge would be dropped in two years if he met court conditions.

Prosecutors later moved to dismiss the entire case after a former state representative raised questions about the arrest. A judge accepted the dismissal, and the Police Department’s deputy chief, Carmen Best, ultimately apologized to Wingate for his arrest and returned his golf club.

In closing arguments, Vonda Sargent, one of Wingate’s attorneys, told jurors that they could send a message, citing what she called Whitlatch’s racist views on social media, a text, an email and during the Police Department’s internal investigation.

“The time has come to stop this, stop it in its tracks,” Sargent said.

Whitlatch’s attorney, Robert Christie, attributed the incident to a misunderstanding that had nothing to do with race.

“Judge her by what you saw here,” Christie told jurors, arguing her emotional or sarcastic comments outside the job don’t reflect who she is.