4/6/2009 5:48:00 AM
Police can withhold video of shooting
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FORT WAYNE, Ind. (AP) - Indiana's public access counselor says police and city officials have the right to withhold from the media videotapes that show a fatal police shooting.
Public Access Counselor Heather Willis Neal issued the advisory opinion Friday. The Journal Gazette and local television stations WPTA and WISE had filed a complaint after police and the city refused to release the tapes of the shooting death of Jose Lemus-Rodriguez when the investigation was finished.
The access counselor provides advice on Indiana's public access laws and issues nonbinding opinions on records denials.
In her opinion, Neal said state law allows police to withhold from the public records that are labeled "investigatory" even if an investigation has been completed. "Nothing provides that records covered under the exception must be disclosed once an investigation is complete," she wrote.
"We believe the public access counselor confirms the city's position in regards to the tapes," city spokeswoman Rachel Blakeman said.
But a newspaper editor questioned the lack of a time limit on the exception for investigatory records.
"There may be a problem with the law," said Tracy Warner, editorial page editor of The Journal Gazette. "There seems to be no deadline on how long investigatory materials can be kept from the public."
Warner said the newspaper was still weighing its options.
"This is not a court ruling, this is one lawyer's opinion, and this isn't the final word," Warner said.
The family of Jose Lemus-Rodriguez filed a lawsuit in November claiming that city police Officer James Arnold used unreasonable force when he fatally shot the 24-year-old man on Dec. 23, 2007, following a car chase. Police say Lemus-Rodriguez was shot after he attempted to ram officers with his car.
Police dashboard video is believed to show the shooting.
Allen County Prosecutor Karen Richards announced last May she would not file criminal charges against Arnold, who was a probationary officer at the time of the shooting, citing insufficient evidence of criminal liability. The city also hired an outside consultant who determined that Arnold did not violate department rules.
In February, a federal magistrate denied the city of Fort Wayne's demand that attorneys for the Lemus-Rodriguez family be prohibited from releasing video showing the shooting to the media or others. Magistrate Roger B. Cosbey said in an opinion that a protective order could not be issued to keep the video from being released.
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