Commissioners split on releasing records
City crafting response to request for police chase information
A city commissioner says the Lawrence Police Department should end its refusal to release records from a deadly vehicle pursuit.
In a possible violation of the Kansas Open Records Act, the department refuses to release dispatch tapes and an officer’s special report from the Aug. 26 pursuit that ended when a fleeing suspect struck and killed 56-year-old Judith Vellucci.
“I’m a backer of the Police Department and want to make sure they have all the resources they need,” Commissioner Mike Rundle said Tuesday. “But there’s no department in the city that shouldn’t be accountable and responsive. And for that to happen, we need information.”
Other commissioners had mixed reactions. Sue Hack said she supported the department’s decision to withhold the records, and Boog Highberger, an attorney, said he wasn’t ready to say one way or another.
“My preference is that we err on the side of openness as far as records are concerned,” he said.
David Schauner, also an attorney, said he wasn’t aware of the issue until Tuesday and that he hadn’t yet discussed it with other commissioners or officials.
“I don’t have any reason to believe the police chief would purposely mislead the public or fail to provide information to the public,” he said.
Mayor David Dunfield referred questions to Assistant City Manager David Corliss, who is drafting a formal response to a demand by the Journal-World’s attorney that the records be released.
Corliss said he hoped to complete his response “in the next day or two” but declined further comment.
Police Chief Ron Olin, who has twice turned down the newspaper’s request, said he didn’t know when the response would be finished or what it would be.
“There are several issues,” Olin said. “I’m trying to follow the law and not jeopardize the future” of the case against 19-year-old Nam Ouk Cho of Lee’s Summit, Mo., who’s charged with second-degree murder in Vellucci’s death.
Olin deferred further comment to Corliss.
In denying two previous open-records requests by the newspaper, the city relied on guidance from Atty. Gen. Phill Kline’s office, City Manager Mike Wildgen said.
A Kline spokesman, Chad Bettes, said he couldn’t discuss details or even confirm that Kline gave advice to the city.
If the records are not released, Mike Merriam, the Topeka attorney representing the Journal-World, is ready to file a lawsuit in Douglas County District Court to force the city to comply with the state’s open records law.
— Staff writer Joel Mathis contributed to this story.
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