Oh, come on. She was just giving the bus driver a hard time. If she was the power-tripping asshole this makes her out to be, her supervisors would have weeded her out long ago. SPD doesn't stand for that kind of behavior.

No, generally they sit around for it

"SPD doesn't stand for that kind of behavior."

@Phil M, please tell me you're being sarcastic.

I just filed a Public Records Act request for the full and complete content of every Seattle Police Department Office of Professional Accountability (OPA) investigative file in which Cynthia A. Whitlatch #6229 was a named officer at any point in the investigation, along with associated metadata. Related communications and all results will be automatically published.

Why does Kathleen OToole only put these fires out once they're a five alarm blaze of police overreach. She's here to reform SPD. When is SPD going to be reformed?

As more accusers come forward, the credibility of the officer swindles...at least that's my opinion. Kinda like Bill Cosby...You mean to tell me THAT many people are lying?

Here's the thing...police brutality is a systemic thing, that needs to be changed. I do find Slog's fixation with taking down a (female, lesbian) officer, fixating on how she was outside of the job (e.g., in a relationship) to be vulture-like at best, misogynist at worst. My thought is, "She's a cop...she's gonna have some horrible, authoritarian, bullying issues in her relationships. Like many other cops." Is she a good cop? Hell no. Should her blatant abuses of power be documented? Of course. But would Slog spend this much time on her every move if she weren't am aggressive dyke? Probably not.

@5: Look, the DOJ found that only 20% of Seattle Police Department staff's use of force is used in violation of the United States Constitution. Four times out of five, their actions were totally lawful. We can't expect perfection. That's just a few bad eggs, and their partners, and their supervisors, and their internal investigators. How's the police chief supposed to know who the good cops are and who the hundreds of bad cops are? And if she did know, what do you expect her to do? Fire them? Put them all on desk duty so they can't continue fucking people up whenever they god-damned feel like it? Demote them? Admonish them? Take them out for beers and tell them to take it easy for a few years until the heat's off? Acknowledge that there is a problem with those several hundred officers in particular and put them on some kind of behavior improvement program?

Cynthia Whitlatch was a trainer at SPD for 13 years. She's a model cop--like a cop mold--who's been producing more just like her, and that's what SPD is built on. Solid as a motherfucking rock.

Serving and protecting the fuck out of this town.

@8: Right on...but I want better. The system of accountability is far from perfect. Let's hope we're on track to make cops think before they act. No more knee-jerk, I'm always right crap. We don't need them to try and align the rest of the world with their ideas of what the world SHOULD be.

@8: Now I see that is sarcasm.

There comes a time in a story when the questions shift from the original person to the people who supervised & trained them.

That time is now.

Whitlatch is no longer the center of the story. It now is on the people who are highly paid to manage and oversee people (racists, power-tripping) like her, and how they have obviously failed.

So they're only racist 20% of the time?

Are those the times they're shooting at citizens who aren't white?

@9: You're asking for miracles. This is going to take time. It's been, what, three years since the DOJ report? O'Toole can't just come in and tell a bunch of cops what to do. I mean, they were found breaking the law--the supreme law of the land--but that doesn't mean we can punish them. They were on the job, for god's sake. What cops do on the job is cop work, not crime. What, do you think there are laws for cops? We're going to put them in front of a judge or something? Anyway, we can't know which cops are resistant to calls to work within the law. It's not like 129 of them filed lawsuit to nullify the new use-of-force policy, or that they're regulary caught on video shooting pepper spray indiscriminately, waving the nozzle around like whirligigs.

Yesterday, we published unsubstantiated statements from an ex

There, fixed it for you. Don't pretend to call this journalism. It isn't. It was a smear piece without a lick of evidence. You should be ashamed as should anybody who approved of these posts or had any effect on your journalism ethics education. Repeating it only makes it worse. Apologize and delete the offending post.

It must be weird being one of the only people batting for this piece of shit, delirian.

"She did the right thing by filing the complaint." Beyond that, he had no comment.

Reminds me of when I was bullied in junior high. The only recourse was to tell the teachers/principal... and... then....? God I hope this is all part of a cultural shift against the abuses of power by the powerful.

I don't believe that Cynthia Whitlatch, or any Seattle cop, would park right in the bus zone, just because it was convenient, and then get up in that bus driver's face, as if the cop was hoping to escalate the situation. I never see squad cars parked, without emergency lights running, on sidewalks, in no-parking zones, with their engines running in a street-side no-parking zone 50 feet from a parking lot while they're inside having lunch at that place just south of Occidental Park, in the planting strip at the 7-11 at 15th and Denny while they're going in for coffee, or whatever. That would make it appear that they were pushing their weight around, just disregarding regulations that are purportedly enacted to prevent unsafe practices because it's convenient and because nobody is ever going to do anything about it, since they're cops, and they can do whatever they want to do. SPD staff have an image to uphold. Management make it clear that patrol cops are public servants and should treat the public with respect, as if they work for us. Projecting power and reminding a bunch of libtards and skells of who's in charge is not part of being a cop in this town. SPD wouldn't stand for that shit. Cops are taking this reform business seriously, from top to bottom.

Can't you just hear it in her voice? The utter derision, the undeniable contempt, the frustrated condescension? HE heard it.

I love the nincompoop #1 comment who said "Oh, come on. She was just giving the bus driver a hard time. If she was the power-tripping asshole this makes her out to be, her supervisors would have weeded her out long ago."

... as if—I mean, how does this jackass make the distinction about what is "power-tripping" (lies, apparently) and what is "just giving the bus driver a hard time" based on what is written here, considering the entire article is believable?

Fucking people, man. They're idiots. Once they've made their mind up about something, the facts don't matter. This jackass thinks "aw, c'mon, cops are basically good" and that is obvious from his moronic logic. I bet he thinks he has x-ray vision to see through the "bullshit" in any article he reads, too. "Yeah, it's easy," says Phil M., the Stranger's #1 commenter, "you just make your mind up before you read and then skip to the comments halfway through the article once you've grown tired of reading and your gut is telling you it's time for a hoagie now."

@22: you seriously need to take your sarcasm/snark detector in for an upgrade, cause the one you've got is beyond broke. Or are you the kind of person that didn't realize that Colbert was acting?

Phil M is a civic treasure and if you weren't so damn thick-headed you'd see how incredibly spot on his veiled critique is right now.

Umm... okay, so now is @22 some kind of meta-sarcasm? I'm confused.

@22

@1 is being very sarcastic.

@23, @24

@22's very short comment history is full of misogyny and homophobia.

@16

Get over yourself. Because if that's simply character assassination, then so is everything else. All we have here, for instance, is an unsubstantiated claim by a bus driver who might well be taking advantage of an unsubstantiated claim she filed several years ago because now she's got an axe to grind with a cop she crossed paths with to support a fellow bus driver.

And all Mr. Wingate offers is an unsubstantiated claim that he did not swing his golf club at Off. Whitlatch.

@5: "When is SPD going to be reformed?"

Sigh. Somebody (looking at you Ansel) really needs to do some in-depth coverage of what went wrong over the past year or so. Dominic was doing great coverage of some of this before he left.

There are some really great people within SPD. There are folks committed to reform. There are officers who have said "if I was in charge so and so wouldn't be here anymore". Unfortunately those folks got their legs cut out from under them last year when our brand new mayor chose to listen to some ill-intentioned advisors (Durkan and Podlodowski in particular). Murray foolishly decided that the pro-reform folks were "McGinn's people" and brought in a retired hack to serve as interim chief. There was a reason that SPOG showed up at the announcement of Bailey as acting chief.

Bailey promptly went about demoting or reassigning folks and the message sent to the rank and file was clear: if you want so stay in the department keep your trap shut. Murray's cluelessness and listening to incredibly by advice was an enormous setback and, sadly, O'Toole either doesn't have the knowledge of where the skeletons are and who the good guys are and/or the freedom to go after them and bring the reformers back in. And we're all paying the penalty for a mayor who put political vendetta above the needs of the police officers and the city they work for.

Damn, gnossos, if people actually pay attention to stuff like that the people to blame for this crap, (Murray and the slimeballs he put back in charge) could end up taking the blame for some of this. That would be tragedy I tell you, tragedy!

she will not be fired. cops are rarely fired and when they are, the union fights tooth and nail to reinstate them. what is more likely is that she will resign, like that cop who murdered john Williams.

O'Toole was hired to keep Ed Murray comfortable. When he announced her hiring he said they had good rapport and "it could be an Irish thing". Apparently it's a political liability when the mayor loses his shit all the time, so he needs to have nonthreatening people around who are of Irish descent.

@29: "Somebody (looking at you Ansel) really needs to do some in-depth coverage of what went wrong over the past year or so. Dominic was doing great coverage of some of this before he left."

Agreed. Stay tuned.

@33: Yeah, I'm betting the SPD will just be dying to work with a person who published unsubstantiated statements from an ex that smeared a cop.

When you get the cold shoulder Ansel, know that it is probably because of your lack of ethics here. Delete the post, apologize, and take your writing up a level from TMZ and Gawker.

@33: Btw, you might want to look up the definition of libel per se. Don't forget the "per se".

@33: great. And by the way, thank you very much for all you have done so far. Shining a spotlight on these issues may be the only way we get to true reform.

And if any of our regular sloggers has an in w/Murray could you please get it through to him that actual policy change is far more important than settling political scores?

@34

If the SPD had 2 nonrage/racist brain cells to rub together between the department, they SHOULD WANT TO WORK with the Stranger and people calling out these problems.

But, as your comment shows, the SPD DOES NOT WANT TO CHANGE. It wants to stay racist, it wants to stay unnaccountable, and it wants to keep its free pass for harassment and violence.

In that, theyve lost sight of what they are there to do. The SPD are there to PROTECT AND SERVE THE PUBLIC. Not "ENFORCE THEIR OPINIONS on people they dont like" or "vent their prejudices and rage" on people whos skin color they dont like.

THE SPD are a broken system. It cannot be fixed via any amount of 'training'. Whatever good apples are left could never undo the damage done by the bad apples. And they are doing damage. Had this shit not been on camera (like 99% of POC interactions with these racist brutes), it would have stayed under the rug it was swept under 7 months ago when it happened.

This whole mess is turning into some kind of cruel, unfunny joke. O'Toole was hired at great expense to deal with precisely this type of problem. So far she appear to be just another enabler in chief.

Did anybody else notice that while harassing Mr. Wingate on tape, Whitlatch claims that he swung his club at her at 11th & Pike, but if you rewind to the beginning of the video, you see her make a left at 11th & Pike (look for the big "35th North" shop on the corner) without incident? There was nothing happening there. If there was some altercation to confront, why would she casually go around the block first, waiting patiently for all the red light right turns, and then catch up to the guy at 12th & Pike?

Also, is it just me, or is it a little comical how ineffectively worked up she was getting while shrieking for Mr. Wingate to put down the golf club? It was like "put down the golf club, sir, or I will scream some more until backup comes!" This is doubly embarrassing for SPD. She completely lacks the ability to convey authority, so she just gets more and more unhinged in response. Pathetic.

This idiot is the poster child for petty authority going to your head.

@38: or, she has not been given the freedom to act by her boss. There's a world of difference between "I've empowered the chief blah, blah, blah" and "I want you to clean this shit up whatever it takes and no matter how bad it may make my previous decisions look". She got the former and not the latter.

@37:

But, as your comment shows, the SPD DOES NOT WANT TO CHANGE.

How? I'm not associated with the SPD. The only time I ever interacted with the SPD was when I filed a report when my car was broken into. I got a business card.

@23 absolutely brilliant!

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Why DO Metro drivers run so many red lights?

@43 Because they have an unrealistic schedule they have to maintain.

Kathleen O'Toole should immediately fire this piece of shit, charge her with deprivation of rights under color of law, filing a false report and perjury for signing it. If she doesn't, all her talk about reforming the department is nonsense.

@43

You're a cop who's pissed off about bus drivers running red lights. Should you:

a) Write bus drivers a ticket when you see the infraction?

b) Ask your supervisors why the SPD doesn't make bus driver infractions a priority?

c) Follow a driver down the sidewalk, ranting and screeching like a harpy?

Hey... Has anyone thought to test Cynthia for steroids? I'm not saying that because of sexual orientation or anything. Most of these male cops who go off on these unprofessional, authoritative sidewalk hissy fits are displaying unmistakable symptoms of roid rage.

Remember the one who told Dominic Holden he was going to arrest him for standing on the sidewalk? Or the one who punched a girl in the head for jaywalking? That's roid rage, y'all.

Nothing is going to change until they bring in more cops who ACTUALLY LIVE HERE, in SEATTLE! A good % of these cops come in from rural areas or suburbs and could give a f*&# about Seattle. Oh, and they're "cityphobes", so they arrive to work already with a chip on their shoulder.

1) Transfer out-of-towners

2) Re-hire locals who know Seattle's pulse

3) Offer Seattle living wages

@ 46, I think being a sociopath and having a badge, along with no fear of real retribution, can produce roid rage-like symptoms.

We sing and dance and testify to the new Seattle order governed by a gay mayor and a woman chief of police. . .Same Shit- different gender/orientation! Why don't we trust the po-po? Everyone knows they get a talking to by mommy when they're bad and we go to jail when we're walking down the street. This is going to be the downfall of O'toole if she won't start sending bad cops to jail.

@39:

That's been precisely the question I've asked repeatedly since this story broke earlier this week. Since when has it become SPD policy to NOT confront the alleged perpetrator of a crime at the very moment they allegedly witness it? Do they now wait for the burglar to carry stolen goods to their car if they catch them in someone's home? Do they drive around the block a couple of times when they see someone run a red light?

@51 That's a pretty good list. This is not just about Whitlatch.

Also agreeing with @46. Test them all. Some of them are inhumanly big... like, not just gym junkie big but pro wrestler bulging with crazy eyes and a hyper aggressive demeanor. If this was the Bronx or Watts you could say they were PTSD but for fuck sake, this is Seattle. THE JOB IS NOT THAT DANGEROUS TO PROVOKE THIS NONSENSICAL REACTIONS TO EVERYDAY, INNOCUOUS ENCOUNTERS. Like those had with metro drivers asking you to move.

Phil is right, the complicity is staggering and goes all the way to the mayor's office.

So I've seen this woman three times this week on the news. I don't know any other SPD officer by name, but I now know hers.

1)Harassing a black man using a golf club as a cane

2)Harassing a bus driver

3)Pepper spraying a civilian walking on the sidewalk while he was on the phone, following a Black Lives Matter Speech.

That is a pretty impressive rap sheet, I seriously hope someone removes her from the force as Seattle Police have a bad enough reputation as it is.

So I've seen this woman three times this week on the news. I don't know any other SPD officer by name, but I now know hers.
1)Harassing a black man using a golf club as a cane
2)Harassing a bus driver
3)Pepper spraying a civilian walking on the sidewalk while he was on the phone, following a Black Lives Matter Speech.
That is a pretty impressive rap sheet, I seriously hope someone removes her from the force as Seattle Police have a bad enough reputation as it is.

I don't believe she pepper sprayed Mr. Hagopian. That was a different officer.

@55: She has not been identified as (nor does she appear to be) the officer who pepper-sprayed Hagopian.

PhilM: We get it, you traffic in sarcasm. But it's getting really old and boring.

So I've seen this woman three times this week on the news. I don't know any other SPD officer by name, but I now know hers.

1)Harassing a black man using a golf club as a cane

2)Harassing a bus driver

3)Pepper spraying a civilian walking on the sidewalk while he was on the phone, following a Black Lives Matter Speech.

That is a pretty impressive rap sheet, I seriously hope someone removes her from the force as Seattle Police have a bad enough reputation as it is.

Don't forget smoking pot stolen from evidence with her ex, whome she is now bad-mouthing...

@59: Zero evidence for that. The word of an ex (who was convicted of lying before) is not evidence. A responsible paper wouldn't have published that.

The SPD needs to be completely overhauled and their Union investigated too. The FBI/DOJ needs to come in, grow a pair, and fire them all, then give psych evaluations, background checks, and review their past in law enforcement before they can return to duty. This behavior has been happening for years. then 'We' (Seattlites) have to pay for for the well deserved restitution to their long list and growing of victims.

I grew up here, love it here, and I am embarrassed of the lack of regard for the safety, reputation, and respect of our city and it's citizens by our so called leaders; (The City Council, DA, Mayor, Other "Good/Real" Officers, Past/Currant Police Chiefs, and the Jimmy Hoffa Union) that protect these parasites need to be held accountable for not keeping their houses in check.

Just fricking shameful, all of you.

Phil M, you need to STFU! Is that Whitlatch one of your relatives, and are YOU a sympathizing cop, too? Her gestapo ass should've been dealt with and removed long ago.

@41

Sure bro. You totally arent another SPD lurker. SPD cops are as bad at pretending to be civilians online as you are at hiding your racism towards blacks, indians and latinos in real life.

@64: No, you STUFU! Listen, buddy, we wouldn't have these problems if people would accept that what police say goes and do as they're told. On the streets--their streets--they are the law. If a Police Officer tells you to put down your walking stick, you do it, and then you take your hat off, empty your pockets, get your ID out, put your hands up, and thank them for their service. The time to argue if there's a mistake about a lawful order is in COURT after you're out of JAIL and finished with your JOB and found an ATTORNEY and paid lots of money and filed papers and got time off work for a hearing that's rescheduled and then another and maybe the charges are dropped and you get another attorney and file a lawsuit because your constitutionally-protected rights were violated and then a judge dismisses it because qualified immunity and then you pay $500 to file an appeal and more papers and years go by and and you fly your attorney to another court to argue that the first court violated its court rules. THAT's when you argue if you want to argue. And you can file a complaint with Internal OPA Affairs, too, so your complaint goes through the proper internal police channels.

Just do what they tell you!

This Wingate fellow is lucky the Officer didn't stop her car right there and arrest him for harassment when she observed him doing what she later said she observed before she slowly drove around the block, waiting respectfully at several stop lights she could have blown right through since her car has exempt plates and arrested him for harassment. She should be commended for her bravery, taking this dangerous criminal off the streets and into custody without so much as radioing in that she was heading into a dangerous situation first. She didn't have to leave the safety of her vehicle like that. She could have ordered him over the PA then tazered or shot him for resisting arrest and obstructing. That's restraint, right there.

Our Officers put their lives on the line daily so people like YOU can go home at night. And then, they go home at night, as is their priority.

Officer Whitlatch welcomes all to America's Golden Age of Authoritarian Incompetence...