(AP) – No charges will be filed in the death of a bank executive who choked on a small bag of cocaine shortly after she was arrested at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, prosecutors have decided. The decision was announced Tuesday, about two months after an inquest jury issued mixed findings in the death of Desseria B. Whitmore, 52, a churchgoing Bank of America assistant vice president who had no criminal record. King County prosecutors said the inquest failed to show produce “evidence of any criminal negligence on the part of the Port of Seattle police officers” who subdued Whitmore on Oct. 25, 2003. Police said Whitmore tried to walk away after screeners found a drug pipe and a small amount of marijuana in her purse and carryon luggage at a security checkpoint. She resisted when an officer grabbed her arm, and it took three officers to subdue and handcuff her after they took her to the floor and pinned her, police said. During the melee, officials said, Whitmore swallowed a small plastic bag of cocaine that got stuck in her windpipe, causing her to choke. She was pronounced dead at Highline Hospital, and an autopsy indicated she died of asphyxia and acute cocaine intoxication. Her sister, Bernadine Anderson, said she attended the inquest and never thought the officers meant to harm her sister. At the same time, she said her sister’s death may have resulted partly from poor training and supervision of the officers. The port’s deputy police chief, John Batiste, said the officers who subdued Whitmore “acted with good faith, and according to their training.”
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