Cop who didn't mask at hospital in 2021 in trouble again for taunting woman at hotel

The OPA found Officer Eric White head was rude to the woman and appeared to laugh with a bystander who called her sexist slurs

Officer Eric Whitehead, who previously made national news for refusing to wear a mask at a hospital during the height of the pandemic, was suspended for taunting a woman after forcing her out of a hotel two days before Christmas, according to a disciplinary report published last week.

On December 23, 2023, Whitehead and his partner, Officer Charles Foreman, responded to a call about a woman who refused to leave her hotel room. Dispatch described the woman as calm at the time.

When the cops arrived at the hotel, the manager told them that the hotel had received multiple noise complaints. She was given an hour to pack her things and leave but refused.

The cops and the manager found her on the floor above her room looking at a tablet. The woman denied making too much noise and asked the cops for 10 minutes so she could find another place to stay. Whitehead told her she needed to pack, leave the hotel, and then she could do that.

The cops left the woman, expecting her to head to her room and pack, but she never arrived. The cops found her where they left her. She asked for five more minutes, at which point Whitehead told her to leave and shoved her into the elevator. The woman asked him not to touch her.

The cops said the manager had trespassed the woman from the hotel and she started to ask a question, but Whitehead interrupted her.

“Be quiet. You’re gonna listen to us, and you’re gonna do what we tell you to do, or we’re gonna put our hands on you.” The woman began to cry and said, “What disgusting shit is this?” She argued she hadn’t done anything wrong.

When the elevator arrived at the lobby, Whitehead grabbed the woman’s arms, wrenched her forward, and shoved her again as she repeatedly asked him not to touch her. Whitehead told her to walk, and she obeyed. Whitehead again shoved her in the back, pushing her all the way out of the hotel.

Once outside, the cops and the woman waited for hotel workers to grab the woman’s belongings. Meanwhile, the woman shouted at the cops for touching her, insulting her, and rushing her out before she could book a room.

During the woman’s frustrated outburst, Whitehead said, “Would you like to go to the hospital and talk to a social worker about all these various ailments you have?”

She continued yelling at them, and Whitehead laughed at her before he said, “If you’re not happy with your choices, go look in the mirror.”

Hotel workers brought out the woman’s stuff and as she checked to make sure she had everything, someone walked past and thanked Whitehead for his service. The woman complained to the person about Whitehead’s rude behavior. The passerby defended Whitehead, called the woman a sexist slur, and told her to “shut the fuck up.” Whitehead laughed and said, “Thank you. Good try, though.”

Before the woman left, she asked the cops for their names and badge numbers. The cops gave their information, but then the woman grabbed her tablet so she could record it. At that point, Whitehead told the woman, “You’ve got three seconds to write it down before I put you in your car and push you off the property.” The woman warned Whitehead not to touch her and headed to her car.

“No one’s touching you. No one wants to touch you,” Whitehead said. After that, the woman drove away.

OPA investigators called Whitehead’s comments outside the hotel unprofessional and said they “served no purpose but to taunt or insult,” the woman.

When investigators brought up the passerby’s insult of the woman, Whitehead denied that he’d heard what the person said. OPA argued Whitehead’s comment and laughter suggested he’d at least understood the person’s tone.

OPA also questioned Whitehead’s strategy or pushing the woman out of the hotel, and said he might have used a different method to escort her from the building. However, OPA found Whitehall had still complied with the department’ use of force policies.

Whitehead’s temper has landed him in trouble with the department in the past. He’s had three sustained professionalism complaints in as many years. In 2022, a woman called 911 about a maintenance worker entering her apartment without permission. He responded to the call but never spoke with the woman. A couple weeks later, he followed up with her and when she explained her frustrations with her landlord, Whitehead told her she should just move. The department issued him a written reprimand in that case.

The year before, Whitehead was suspeneded for telling a nurse he wouldn’t wear a mask in Harborview hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic, which was required by hospital policy and city law at the time. He claimed a skin condition, but that didn’t prevent him from wearing gas masks during the 2020 protests.

Hired in 2008, Whitehead’s total compensation in 2023, including overtime, was $131,672.