It took Seattle police several hours to get a man out of a basketball rim. According to reports, the man, wielding a hammer, is believed to have climbed into the net during Mayday celebrations on Friday.
Officer Drew Fowler said Monday the man was not booked into jail but sent to a hospital for a mental health evaluation.
News helicopter video showed him hanging upside down from the rim, sometimes by just one foot, as he waved the hammer around. It took several officers to get him down, helped by a firefighter who climbed a ladder to cut the net.
The police department wrote on its Twitter feed it was considering citing the man for destruction of property — “or at least goal-tending.”
In the video, the officer is driving her patrol car with the dashboard camera recording. After a few seconds of driving, she pulls up on the man standing on the corner waiting to cross the street. The officer exited her vehicle and began telling the 69 year old to drop his weapon – a golf club he used as a cane.
The police officer accused the 70 year old of threatening her with a golf club. On the recording the officer, Cynthia Whitlatch, is seen pulling up to the man standing on a corner. She then demands the man to drop his golf club.
“You just swung that golf club at me,” Whitlatch yells.
“No, I did not!” exclaims the shocked pedestrian.
Whitlatch is heard telling the man that he is being recorded and videotaped, but review of that recording led the Seattle police department to issue the apology, as no threats were ever made to the officer.
The arrest took place in 2014 and the man, William Wingate – a black man and a veteran with no criminal record – tried telling the officer that he had done nothing wrong, except standing on the sidewalk. He was eventually arrested and pled guilty to the misdemeanor charge of unlawful use of a weapon in exchange for a two years probation which was dismissed.
Officer Whitlatch received “counseling” for her actions. According to reports, officer Whitlatch is also one of 123 Seattle police officers who filed suit to block federally mandated reforms to stop unnecessary police brutality.
ThinkProgress is reporting that Seattle will raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour over the coming years under a deal brokered by Mayor Ed Murray and blessed by labor and business groups alike, city leaders announced Thursday afternoon.
The new pay floor will phase in at different speeds for businesses of different sizes, but all employers will have to meet the $15 minimum wage by the end of the decade. Businesses with more than 500 employees nationwide will have a three-year phase-in period, while smaller employers get five years to ratchet up their payscales.
After reaching $15 an hour, the city’s minimum wage will automatically climb by 2.4 percent each year regardless of the rate of inflation. Even among states with relatively strong minimum wage laws, automatic increases are uncommon.
Two people were killed and another injured this morning when a helicopter crashed in Seattle just yards away from the iconic Space Needle.
The helicopter was a news chopper owned by ABC News affiliate KOMO.
The chopper crashed moments after lift-off and quickly became engulfed in flames, killing two and sending a third victim to the hospital in critical condition, according to the Seattle Fire Department.
The two people that were killed were pilot Gary Pfitzner and photographer Bill Strothman, a recently-retired staffer who now works part-time, the station said.
The other person who was injured was only identified as a 38-year-old man who was inside a car at the time.
The crash site was just 50 feet away from the Space Needle, authorities said.
The helicopter did not hit the landmark.
The news station said the helicopter was lifting off from its roof when it hit the side of the building and crashed into several cars. Two cars were also on fire when firefighters arrived to douse the flames.
Plumes of smoke quickly filled the skies near Space Needle shortly after the crash.
The Seattle Fire Department said they do not know what caused the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board is en route to the scene to investigate the crash.
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