Seattle's legal tab for ex-officer's golf-club arrest: $1.3 million
The city’s legal tab for a former Seattle police officer’s arrest of an African-American man who refused to drop a golf club he used as a cane has reached nearly $1.3 million.
The total reflects $325,000 awarded to the man, William Wingate, in November after a jury found that former Officer Cynthia Whitlatch, who was fired over the incident, engaged in racial discrimination.
The amount also includes what Seattle paid to an outside attorney to defend the city in the lawsuit: $353,048.83.
U.S. District Judge Richard Jones, who oversaw the trial, this week ordered Whitlatch to pay $600,431.02 in attorney’s fees and costs to Wingate’s lawyers and support staff.
Read more: http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/crime/seattles-legal-tab-for-ex-officers-golf-club-arrest-13-million/