Shelby County Sheriff Records Department 380 Mc Dow Rd. Cohunbiana, AL, 35051 April 10, 2012
RE: Officer-involved shooting, use of chemical spray (against K-9) Date of Incident: 02/24/2012 Location of incident: residence of Jodi Cooper - 3549 Cahaba Beach Rd., Birmingham, AL Custodian of Records, Pursuant to the state open records law,·AriCode Sees. 36-12~40 to 36-12-41 ,1write to request access to and a copy of: • All reports, use of force forms, dispatch call log report (or CAD report) and any other documents, including photographs, associated to the above referenced incident. • Any audio/video recordings from, dashboard or hand-held cameras, audio recording devices, radio transmissions, 911 calls, etc. ' • Shelby County Sheriff Officer written policy regarding use of force; use of a fire arm, use of chemical spray & civilian complaint process. If your agency does not maintain these public records, please let me know who does and include the proper custodian's name and address. I agree to pay any reasonable copying and postage fees of not more than $20.00. If the cost would be greater than this amount, please notify me. Please provide a receipt indicating the charges for each document. As provided by Alabama Open Meetings Act, I would request your response within ten (10) business days. If you choose to deny this request, please provide a written explanation for the denial including a reference to the specific statutory exemption(s) upon which you rely. Also, please provide all segregable portions of otherwise exempt material. Please be advised that I am prepared to pursue whatever legal remedy necessary to obtain access to the requested records. I would note that Alabama courts have awarded court costs and attorney fees parties who have successfully sued for access to public information. In addition, state law imposes criminal penalties, including fmes and imprisonment, upon those who knowingly fail to comply with a lawful request for records. Ala. Code Sees. 13A-I0-12(a)(3) and 36-12-64.
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Thank you for your assistance. Sincerely,
c:J-~
Joshua Antonelli Case Manager
Policeabuse.com Tampa Bay Office ·10460 Roosevelt Blvd. #282 St. Petersburg, FL33716 * 1-800-473-5097 ext. 5
* Fax:
305-675-0926
WALLACE,
ELLIS,
FOWLER,
ATTORNEYS
PHYSICAL
FRANK C. ELLIS, JR. CONRAD M. FOWLER, JR. J. FRANK HEAD
HEAD & JUSTICE
AT LAW
April 19, 2012
MAILING
ADDRESS:
113
AODRESS:
NORTH
MAIN
STREET
POST OFFICE.BOX
COLUMBIANA,
ALABAMA
587 35051
TELEPHONE, (20S) 669-6783
WILLIAM R. JUSTICE
FACSIMILE, (205) 669-4932
G. DANIEL HEAD JOSHUA D. ARNOLD FRANK HEAD (1891-1979) WALES W. WALLACE, JR. (1919-1986)
Mr. Joshua Antonelli, Case Manager Police Complaint Center Tampa Bay Office 10460 Roosevelt Blvd. #282 S1.Petersburg, n. 33716 Dear Mr. Antonelli: I am writing to you as County Attorney for Shelby County, Alabama, and with specific reference to your letter to "Shelby County Sheriff, Records Department" dated April 10,2012, wherein you seek multiple records, documents, videos, audio recordings, policies, etc. Documents maintained by Shelby County are available for inspection during regular business hours. your. open records request, pursuant to Alabama Code Sections 36-12-40 and 36-12-41, does not, however, obligate or authorize a citizen to shift to the custodian of public documents the task of inspecting them and identifying the ones to be copied or the expense of copying those and does not require the custodian to undertake the burden' and' expense of mailing or otherwise delivering the copies. Rather, any inspection of the writings and records and any identification of the ones to be copied must be performed by the citizen under such reasonable safeguards as the custodian may impose for the preservation of the writings. The burden and expense of copying the records and taking copies must be borne by the citizen or his or her agent as provided by law. Parte Gill. ' 841 So.2d 1231 (Ala. 2002). c
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r
Shelby County will make available whatever public records are provided by law in conformance with the above-stated principles.
Frank C. Ellis, r., County Attorney '.for Shelby County, Alabarna FCEjr:ph Ene. ee: Chief Deputy John Samaniego
Policeabuse.com Investigations & Expert Witness Services Tampa Bay Office 10460 Roosevelt Blvd #282 St. Petersburg, FL 33716 1-800-473-5097 ext 5 Fax: 305-675-0926
Franck C. Fowler, County Attorney for Shelby County, Alabama P.O. Box 587 Columbiana, Alabama 35051 April 26th, 2012
Mr. Ellis, I am writing you in response to your letter, dated April 19th, 2012; which was in response to my request for records to the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. I would like to start this letter off by stating that, in my years of experience as an investigative journalist and as a case manager with the Police Complaint Center, I have had several opportunities to go through the process of requesting records with various police agencies throughout the State of Alabama. And so far, none of them have made it as difficult to gain access to records, as the Shelby County Sheriff's Office has. In general, our dealings with other Alabama police agencies have resulted in a timely release of the records being requested, without any resistance or delay. However, as you know, our dealings with Shelby County have been quite the opposite. It seems as though, there is little to no effort being put forth to make these records available. However, there does seem to be a great deal of time and effort being used, at the taxpayer's expense, to give reasons why my request is too burdensome on the Sheriff's Office. In your letter, you attempt justify the Sheriff's Office's lack of effort in making these records available, by referencing a ruling made in a case involving Richard C. Gill. Ex Parte Gill 841 So. 2D 1231. I am familiar with the Gill case and am aware that a ruling was made, denying his requests for records, on the basis that it would be burdensome on the custodian of records. However, if I recall, that ruling was made on the grounds that Gill was not specific in identifying the items he was requesting – which put the burden on the records custodian to, not only locate the records, but to also identify the records Gill was referring to. The denial of Gill's request was also upheld, in part, due to his failure to submit a payment for the requested records – leaving the burden on clerk's office to cover the cost for copying and postage expenses. (Taken from the Court's ruling in the Gill case) "Gill never asserts that he, nor any of his agents, has ever made arrangements to pay the fees set forth... Gill's allegations concern the trial court's unwillingness to reproduce documents at the court's expenses...”
As you can see from my records request, none of the “burdens” described in the Gill case, are being imposed on the Shelby County Sheriff's Office. Unlike Robert Gill's request to the Clerk's office, I was very specific in what I was looking for and also made it very clear in my request, that I was more than willing to pay for any costs associated with the producing of these records. With that being said, I feel that my office's attempts to obtain records, should be dealt with in accordance to Section 36-12-41 of the Alabama Statutes, rather than relying on the the Gill case; which has an entirely different set of circumstances. The truth in the matter, is that, the Sheriff's Office is very well aware of the incident I'm looking into and undoubtedly, has very easy access to the associated records. In fact, members of the Sheriff's Office have previously advised our clients, Mr. and Mrs. Cooper, that they have already accessed and reviewed this information. If that's true
and the Sheriff's Office has, in fact, reviewed the evidence related to Mrs. Cooper's case, then I fail to see how it would impose a burden on them to simply produce those same files. Although, If there are items that I have requested that are exempt from public inspection, then I will have no other choice to respect that. However, nothing in your letter indicated any such exemptions. Instead, your letter seems to suggest that our client should simply walk into the Sheriff's Office, equipped with her own copy machine and start sifting through department records on her own. If that is in fact what you're suggesting, then I'd be more than willing to make that happen. However, if that's what needs to happen to gain access to these records, I must advise you that our client will be accompanied by one of our staff members, as well as a news crew. To avoid that, I am willing to take whatever steps that are necessary to resolve this issue and make the process as burdenless as possible. If it satisfies the Sheriff's Office, I'd even be willing send them blank paper and CD's to copy the records onto, along with an ink cartridge for their printer and self addressed stamped envelope to mail them in. On another note, Mrs. Cooper's allegations against the Sheriff's Office are, as you know, of a very serious nature and even though they claim that their officer acted appropriately, I can assure that Mrs. Cooper's attempts to get answers will not cease. With that being said, if the Sheriff's Office still stands behind their decision in this matter, it would only seem reasonable that they would refrain from risking major public criticism, and simply release the video and other evidence, that they're alleging disproves Mrs. Cooper's claims. In conclusion, I am requesting that you respond to letter within 5 business days, and that you advise on how the Sheriff's Office wishes to proceed. Should any of the items I've requested by except from public record, then I ask that you respond by pointing to the specific statutes, upon which you rely. However, if the requested records are publicly available, then I ask that we make specific arrangements to have these records produced. If it is still your stance, that it would be too burdensome for the Sheriff’s Office to make copies of files they've already accessed and mail them out (at my expense), then it is requested that a time be set up for Mrs. Cooper to go into the Sheriff's Office and access the items in question. I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Joshua Antonelli
[email protected]
cc Shelby County Sheriff's Office
WALLACE,
ELLIS,
FOWLER,
ATTORNEYS
HEAD & JUSTICE
AT LAW
FRANK C. ELLIS, JR.
PHYSICAL
CONRAD M. FOWLER, JR.
MAILING
J. FRANK HEAD
May 10,2012
ADDRESS: AODRESS:
1 13 NORTH
POST
COLUMBIANA.
MAIN
OFFICE
STREET
Box 587
ALABAMA
35051
TELEPHONE: (205) 669-6783
WILLIAM R. JUSTICE
FACSIMILE: (205) 669-4932
G. DANIEL HEAD JOSHUA D. ARNOLD FRANK HEAD (1891-1979) WALES W. WALLACE, JR. (1919-1986)
Mr. Joshua Antonelli, Case Manager Police Complaint Center Tampa Bay Office 10460 Roosevelt Blvd. #282 St. Petersburg, FL 33716 Dear Mr. Antonelli: I thank you for your letter of April 30, 2012, and am, in response thereto, enclosing herewith a copy of the Alabama Uniform Incident/Offense Report which was created as a result of this incident. This is the only portion of the police investigation records which is public and which is made available to the public. The names and critical portions of addresses have been redacted to protect the personal, privacy, identity and rights of the individuals named. Yours very truly, LLIS, FOWLER, HEAD & JUSTICE
FCEjr:ph Enc. cc: Chris Curry, Sheriff, Shelby County, Alabama (w/enc.) John Samaniego, Chief Deputy, Sbelby County, Alabama (w/enc.)
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27 Bias Code
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09 Orug Store 10 F.eld/woods 11 GovlJPublic Building
04 Church
12 Supermarket
21 Restaurant
05 Gcmme:cia!
13 H!~hwayfSlre9!
22 Sc.n.~ot'Colloge
06 Construcllon
14 Hotel/lJ.otel
23 Service/Gas
07 Cony Store
15 Jail/Prison
24 Specialty
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16 LakeN"alerway
25 Other/Unknown
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18 Parking Lol/Garage , 9 Storage F aellily
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#. Color, DruQ Type, Druo Qtv, Etc,
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Description
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20 Race
19 Sex D M
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49 Recovered
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Date
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B Burned F Forged! Counterfeited N None
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Vehicle
;
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[]
Business
16 Household
08 Consumable.
17 Jewelry 18 Livestock
Card
09 Credit
58 Vehicle Style
on Supplement
27 .Recordings 28 RV's
10 Drugs
19 Merchandise 20 Maney
03 Autos
12 Farm Equip
21
Instrument
30 Structure
04 Sicydes 05 Buses
13 Firearms
22 Non-negotiable Insir'll 23 Office 'Equipment
32 Struclure
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24 Other Motor Vehicle
33 Structure
- PublicICommunity
14 GamblinifEqUipmem
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15 Heavy Constru~on
51 Ownership vertfied by:
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29 Structure·
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31 Siructure
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38 Vehicle Parts/Accessories
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39 Watercraft T7 Other
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52 Veh. Categories
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11 Drug Equip
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01 Aircraft
06 Clothes 50 Stolen
07 Computer
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77 Case Disposition
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74 Cas.
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68 Case
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Cleared by Arrest (Juvenile) Cleared by Arrest (Adult) Unfounded Exceptional Clearance Administratively Cleared
78 Exceptional
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D Ctearance
(Circle One)
A SuspedlOffender Dead B Prosecution Doelinec!/ Other Prosecution C Ex1radition Denied D Victim Refused to Cooperate E Juvenile (No Custody) F Dealh of Victim
79 Reporting
80 Assisting
81 SupeNlsor
Officer
Officer
Approval
82 Watch Commander
231
Officer 10 Number
Officer 10 Number
Officer
lD Number
Officer ID Number
I
"
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lr,cidentJo.Ffense .'
96
97
Address (Slree, City, State, Zip]
Suffix 100 Other Phone
103 Address
104 Work Phone
(Street. City, Stale. Zip)
105 Other Phone
114 Complainant
D Handgun
LdPNone
: 8 Broken Bones
DRifte
: I hereby affirm thai I have read this report and that all the information given by me correct to the best of my knowledge, I will assume fuli responsibility for notifying the agency if any stolen property or missing person herein reported is returned,
i.
D Shotgun
M MinorInjury T LossofT eeth o Other Ma)or Inju~i U Urrcor.S-;lcU!:: 131 Treatment
for Rape?
SSN
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ADDITIONAllNCIDENT/OFl-cNSE NARRATIVE CONTINUED
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>~------------------------------------~~------~~--------------------~
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<~------------------------------------------------------------------~ Z
. TYPE OR PRlNT IN BLACK INK ONLY
ALAtsAMA UNIFO~M INCIDENT/OFFENSE
REPORT SUPPLEMENT
Age
27 Bicycles
S
S
R
R
R
R
0
0 C B
0
D
C
C B
C B
32 C1(.odiUOeb:t C2rdo
00 ",0:
B
34 On.;gs!N~r~tbs
33 Drugs!Na<cotiCil
Equipment
S
S
S
S
S
R
R
R
R
R
D
D
0
D
D
C
C
C
C
C
B
B
B
B
B
36 Firearms
3S Farm Equipment
S
S
37 Gambling
40 ·JewelrylPrecious
Equipment
Metals
S
S
S
S
R
R
R
R
D
0
D
0
C
C
C
C
B
B
41 Uvestock
Merchandise
W
B
46 OffICe Equipment
43 Money
S
S
:J
R
R
od:
D
D
D
C
C
C
"
B
B
B
...J
> c::t:
...J ....J
B F
F 47 Other Motor Vehicle
a
C
53 snucture-
Other
50 Recording •• Auo-IO/Visual
49 RadioslTVNCR
48 PurseSiHandbagsiWaliets
51 Recreational
R
52
Vehicles
St~-Sio9l.Oecup.ncyOweWng
S
s
S
5
S
S
R
R
R
R
R
R
D C B
D C
D
D
D
n
C B
C
C
B
B
C 8 F
B
Dwelling
Structure
58 Structure·
- Storage
S R
S
D
0
C
C
B
B
R
59 Tools
Other
--------.:.....~
:.-~.-.
63 Other
SO Trucks
S
S
S
S
S
R
R
R
R
R
D
0
D
D
D
C
C
C
8
8
B
.C 8 F
C B F
F
1 Cleared by Arrest (Juvenile) 2 Cleared by Anest (Adult) 3 Untounded 4 Exceptional Clearance 5 Administratively Cleared
A SuspecVOfiender
Dead
10'
8 Prosecution Declined/Other Prosecution C Extradition Denied D Victim Refused to Cooperate E Juvenile (No Custody) F Death of Victim
TYPE OR PRINT IN BLACK
10 #
INK ONLY
78 Watch Crndr
IDLI: