Officer Cynthia Whitlatch came under fire after arresting 69-year-old military veteran William Wingate last summer. She claimed hed swung at her with his golf club, which he used as a cane, and that the dashcam video would prove it. The dashcam showed no such thing.
Officer Cynthia Whitlatch came under fire after arresting 69-year-old military veteran William Wingate last summer. She claimed Wingate had swung at her with his golf club, which he used as a cane, and that dashcam video would prove it. The dashcam showed no such thing. SPD

Officer Cynthia Whitlatch will plead her case to Seattle police chief Kathleen O'Toole today.

Last month, after a lengthy investigation, the Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) sustained an allegation of biased policing—raised over how Whitlatch handled the arrest last year of 69-year-old military veteran and retired Metro bus driver William Wingate—and recommended that Whitlatch be fired. Under the current process, however, the chief of police makes the final decision on whether to uphold the recommendation only after the officer has a chance to make his or her case in what's called a Loudermill hearing—named for a 1985 court case that created an appeal process for government employees.

The hearing takes place behind closed doors today, according to Seattle Police Officers' Guild (SPOG) president Ron Smith, who will be attending. SPD won't comment on the process. But typically, the hearings are attended by the chief, the officer, the officer's attorney, and representatives from SPD's legal and HR departments. They take place at police headquarters, either in the chief's office or in a conference room. (The carpets are charcoal gray, I'm told.)

O'Toole can take as long as she wants to make her decision after the hearing. If she overrules the OPA and lets Whitlatch keep her job, she'll need to notify the mayor and city council in writing.

Council Member Nick Licata produced this byzantine flowchart two years ago to explain how discipline for Seattle cops can sometimes enter the twilight zone.
Council Member Nick Licata produced this byzantine flowchart two years ago to explain how discipline for Seattle cops has, in the past, sometimes entered the "twilight zone." Seattle.gov

I've filed a public records request for OPA's investigation of Whitlatch, so we can see how the OPA reached its conclusions and what specific allegations it sustained, but the department has been dragging its feet on that request, too. It's a single file that I requested in mid-July, but the department says it won't deliver it until the end of August. That's seven weeks for one file.

This week, the OPA posted a document to its website summarizing one piece of that investigation—the part that looked into allegations from Whitlatch's ex-girlfriend that she made racist comments and stole marijuana from the evidence room that they smoked together. The OPA's investigation was inconclusive—it said it couldn't find any evidence to prove or disprove the claims one way or another.

Whitlatch has been on paid administrative leave since January, when The Stranger first reported on her arrest of Wingate, her racist Facebook comments, and the allegations from her ex. Smith told me she was "quite shocked" by the termination recommendation from OPA. I asked whether she wanted to fight for her job, and he said, "It goes without saying. Yes, of course."

As of July, Smith believed O'Toole's firing decisions had been justified. He said that in the cases where O'Toole had fired officers (only a few so far), "there was sufficient just cause."