The Honolulu Star-Advertiser sued the Honolulu Police Department Monday, accusing police of breaking the law by refusing to release 911 dispatch tapes of a June 3 shooting spree that left a woman dead and two others wounded.
The lawsuit also says police did not give a valid reason under the state’s open-records law to withhold the tapes from the public and seeks attorney’s fees should the newspaper prevail in court.
"Even the Honolulu Police Department is required to follow the law," said attorney Jeffrey Portnoy, who filed the lawsuit for the Star-Advertiser. "They have simply decided that they are above the law, and that’s ironic for a law enforcement agency."
The Star-Advertiser is asking a judge to order the Police Department to release 911 and police dispatch tapes involving the 17-minute shooting spree on June 3 that began at the intersection of Kapahulu Avenue, Kapiolani Boulevard and Waialae Avenue and continued on the H-1 freeway until police arrested suspect Toby Stangel, 28.
Tammy Nguyen, 54, of Palolo died from her injuries, and two other people were shot and injured. The suspect also allegedly shot at and missed two police officers.
The records are being requested for a news story on the police response to the shooting.
"Clearly the public has a right to understand the workings of the Police Department," Portnoy said. "The police dispatch tapes will show how our employees are handling the job we are paying them to do."
Six weeks after the original request, police have still not provided a legal reason for withholding the records, according to the lawsuit.
"Filing suit was our only recourse in this matter," said Frank Bridgewater, Star-Advertiser vice president/editor. "We have made several efforts since June 3rd to get the recordings, only to be denied or ignored."
The Star-Advertiser and other news organizations originally requested the tapes on June 3. But Police Department spokeswoman Michelle Yu said the tapes were part of "an ongoing investigation." The Star-Advertiser followed up on June 8, asking the Police Department to provide a valid reason under the open-records law for denying the request. Yu replied that the recordings "have been submitted as evidence."
Neither justification is covered under the state’s open-records law, which is weighted toward disclosure of public documents and allows for only five reasons to deny access. Those exemptions to disclosure are personal privacy; records that are not discoverable in a court proceeding; records that would frustrate a legitimate government function; records protected from disclosure by other state or federal laws; and working papers of the state Legislature.
Under the law, a government agency must cite at least one of the five reasons when denying a request for public records, and an agency must respond promptly to a request.
Yu said the Police Department had no comment on the lawsuit.
"We cannot comment on pending litigation," Yu said.
Portnoy said 911 tapes and police dispatch tapes are clearly public records, subject to disclosure.
A circuit judge ruled in 1992 that 911 and dispatch tapes are public documents under the state’s open-records law. That decision came after a consortium of news organizations sued Hawaii County, seeking the release of tapes showing the Police and Fire departments’ response in the 1991 Dana Ireland murder case.
The county also paid the legal expenses of Portnoy, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of news organizations.
"The issue of whether 911 tapes are public was decided years ago in the Dana Ireland matter," Portnoy said. "It is important that the public have access to records which are clearly public."
