SEATTLE — Seattle’s police chief has asked the city to seek dismissal of all marijuana citations issued by a bicycle officer who wrote 80 percent of the tickets handed out during the first half of this year for using pot in public.
The Seattle Times reports that Chief Kathleen O’Toole said Friday the request to the city attorney’s office stems from a conclusion that the 66 citations were written as part of the officer’s personal agenda.
O’Toole says the tickets were written for the “wrong reasons.”
The bicycle officer wrote 66 of the 83 such tickets issued in the first half of the year in the city.
The officer wrote on one citation that he used a coin toss to decide which of two men got the ticket and on another described state voter approval of marijuana legalization as “silly.”
The Times says the officer has apologized to O’Toole. She is reportedly still considering disciplinary action.
City Attorney Pete Holmes’ spokeswoman Kimberly Mills says Holmes will review the chief’s request.
Initiative 502, approved by Washington voters, included a civil fine for public consumption of marijuana.
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Information from: The Seattle Times
