The city renewed its claim Thursday that police dispatch tapes can be kept from the public — a position, the Journal-World alleges, that violates the state’s open records law.

City officials made the argument in a formal response filed Thursday to a lawsuit brought by the newspaper after a deadly high-speed chase this summer. The suit was filed when the city refused to release dispatch recordings after the pursuit on grounds they’re not public records, but part of a criminal investigation.

The city’s legal response, filed in Douglas County District Court, reiterated that position and denied the newspaper’s argument that release of the recording would be “in the public interest.”

Ultimately, the city released the recording, but only after it had been played at a courtroom hearing weeks after the crash. The public airing of the tape did not satisfy the newspaper’s lawsuit, which asks a judge to find that officials did not comply with the Kansas Open Records Act. The act is the state law meant to keep government open to the public.

The newspaper contends the law says dispatch tapes should be open to the public regardless of other circumstances, and has asked Judge Paula Martin to settle the matter.

“Our position is that this is simply a recording of what happened in public one day,” said Mike Merriam, a Topeka attorney representing the newspaper. “That police may find it useful in a criminal investigation doesn’t convert it from an open record into a closed one.”

The newspaper’s lawsuit came in the aftermath of the Aug. 26 pursuit of driver Nam Ouk Cho, who was spotted driving recklessly on Massachusetts Street near downtown and pursued by police to the city’s southwest side.

The chase ended when Cho’s car struck and killed motorist Judith Vellucci at the intersection of 31st Street and Nieder Road.

In its suit, which was filed only after multiple requests for the records were denied, the newspaper also asked the judge to find that an “officer’s special report” describing the pursuit is not a confidential memorandum and that the city must release a full accident report. City officials have released only a portion of the accident report.

Shortly after the newspaper’s lawsuit was filed, the city released the special report while maintaining the law didn’t require it to.

Cho, of Lee’s Summit, Mo., is charged with second-degree murder and is scheduled to appear today in court.

Also, the city continues to review its pursuit policy. A Journal-World review found many other area cities have more detailed or restrictive rules for police pursuits, but Chief Ron Olin has said he still thought Lawrence’s policy was adequate.