Jul 19, 2016 3 min read

California Borough has filed a petition in Washington County Court to avoid releasing a video that reportedly shows a 2013 assault by a borough police officer against a suspect who was shackled in a holding cell.

Borough solicitor Thomas Agrafiotis filed the petition Friday in which he argued there’s sufficient basis for the borough to withhold the video from Pittsburgh attorney Andrew Glenn Rothey in a bid by borough officials for a second opinion following a ruling last month by the state Office of Open Records requiring the borough to turn the video over to Rothey.

Rothey, who formerly represented Adam J. Logan, 30, of Richeyville, asked for the video in August under the state Right to Know law. He appealed the case to the Office of Open Records when the borough denied his request, which covered video of “all interaction” between then-officer Justin T. Shultz, 31, of Connellsville, and Logan in a holding cell Nov. 9, 2013.

Court records show Logan was arrested in a purse-snatching incident that day. He later pleaded guilty on a robbery charge.

At the time of the incident, he was in handcuffs and shackled to a bench when Shultz grabbed him, shook him against the wall “then pulled Logan toward him and slammed him to the bench and floor,” borough police Chief Rick Encapera wrote in an affidavit justifying criminal charges against Shultz.

Shultz later pleaded guilty to simple assault. He was already on administrative duty because of complaints previously lodged against him and was later fired.

“I think the Office of Open Records was correct in the decision that this record is subject to disclosure,” Rothey said.

Much of the borough’s most recent filing mirrors arguments the Office of Open Records rejected when it ordered the borough to turn the video over to Rothey.

In last week’s petition, Agrafiotis cited the state Criminal History Record Information Act and provisions in the Right to Know law that exempt records that are part of a criminal investigation from disclosure requirements. He also said it was exempt from disclosure under the Right to Know law because it was part of noncriminal investigation involving Shultz.

State open-records officials ruled the video doesn’t automatically fall under those exemptions because it was later used in official inquiries.

“Those have been held – and very properly in my view – to apply to records that have been created as the result of the investigation,” said office Executive Director Erik Arneson. “The video in this case was not created as a result of an investigation starting, either criminal or noncriminal.”

Agrafiotis also argued in the petition that releasing the video, which shows the layout of the holding cell, might compromise public safety.

The Open Records Office pointed out in its ruling that borough officials undercut those concerns by allowing a local TV reporter to record himself inside the holding cell for a segment that aired in early 2014.

“The borough’s decision to permit access of the holding cell to a news reporter, who then aired the newsclip to the public at large, contradicts the borough’s argument that release of the requested video would jeopardize public safety,” the ruling states.