Report: Police violated open-records law in bodycam case
Source: Associated Press
Bruce Schreiner, Associated Press Updated 4:58 pm, Monday, January 23, 2017
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky State Police violated the state's open-records law by refusing a mother's request for bodycam video from her son's death by municipal police officers who were responding to a restaurant drive-thru shooting, the state attorney general's office said Monday.
The agency had denied Kathy Harris a copy of the police bodycam video because it said public disclosure of the "extremely graphic images" would be so traumatic that it could "irreparably harm" the Harris family and two victims who survived the shooting spree in Russellville, Kentucky.
That argument was rejected by Assistant Attorney General Michelle D. Harrison. Her opinion sided with Harris, whose 34-year-old son Joseph Harris was fatally shot in the confrontation with officers in the southern Kentucky town last March.
"Not only has no evidence been presented that she or any other surviving family members object to disclosure of the video in dispute, Ms. Harris has waived her privacy interests," the opinion said. "This fact certainly undermines the argument that the bodycam video capturing the officer-involved shooting which resulted in Mr. Harris' death should not be disclosed."
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