Tag: public records

Court orders City to release documents in Tyler Rushing case

City's non-compliance with public records laws will cost taxpayers
by Leslie Layton | Posted July 9, 2024

photo by Leslie Layton
Scott & Paula Rushing after their July 8 hearing at the North Butte County Courthouse.

This story was updated at 2 p.m. today to add comments from both parties’ attorneys.

Shortly after taking under submission a public records dispute, Butte County Superior Court Judge Stephen Benson ruled July 8 that the City of Chico must release a PowerPoint presentation on the 2017 police killing of Tyler Rushing.

The ruling in favor of Tyler’s father, Scott Rushing of Ventura, requires that the City release requested information “without redactions.” Scott Rushing filed his request under the state’s Public Records Act almost 19 months ago on the premise that the PowerPoint appears to have been created for training purposes.

“… the public interest in access to the requested PowerPoint, which we understand summarizes the City’s understanding of how Mr. Rushing’s son passed on and describes policies adopted by the City in response to that tragedy, is overwhelming,” states Rushing attorney Aaron Field in a declaration to the court. read more

Waddell honored with Freedom of Information Award

SPJ NorCal comments on ChicoSol stories
by Leslie Layton | Posted March 17, 2022

photo courtesy of Jason Halley
Dave Waddell

ChicoSol contributor Dave Waddell was honored today – on Freedom of Information Day – as a “transparency champion” for work that accessed public records related to three killings involving the Chico Police Department.

Waddell received the Freedom of Information Award in the small Print and Digital division for ChicoSol stories on the killings of Desmond Phillips, Tyler Rushing and Stephen Vest. The 37th annual James Madison Freedom of Information competition awards were presented today by the Society of Professional Journalists Northern California (SPJ) chapter.

SPJ noted that Waddell used records and police body-cam recordings “that he fought for under California public records law, to investigate the official accounts of the circumstances around all three deaths. read more

Lawsuit alleges violations of public records laws

Writer sues City of Chico for access to documents on police killings
by Leslie Layton | Posted February 23, 2022

photo by Karen Waddell
Writer Dave Waddell shows blacked-out pages that were sent him as part of an autopsy report. His attorney alleges “excessive” redacting.

The City of Chico may have lost or destroyed public records related to police killings, and has stonewalled for more than a year in response to record requests, says a lawsuit filed Feb. 18 against the City.

A lawsuit filed by ChicoSol contributing writer Dave Waddell in Butte County Superior Court says the City is in violation of the California Public Records Act because of its continual “withholding of records” as well as its “excessive redactions” in those records that have been released.

“The City has made it clear, by missing its own self-imposed deadlines, again and again, that it will not comply with the law …,” states the lawsuit filed on behalf of Waddell by his San Francisco attorney, Aaron Field. read more

Sheriff’s office responsive, Chico PD obstructive

Two agencies, two different responses to our public records request
by Dave Waddell | Posted December 30, 2019

photo by Karen Laslo

Chico Police Chief Mike O’Brien

Last March, I spoke at a League of Women Voters of Butte County forum having to do with public access to law enforcement records.

That Sunshine Week forum, which included Butte County Sheriff Kory Honea and police reformers Emily Alma and Margaret Swick, gave me an opportunity to vent a bit about the most secretive public agency I’ve dealt with as a journalist: the city of Chico.

At the forum I said something that, if anything, is even truer today: Chico city government has no respect for the people’s right to know.

That’s been the case when liberals have controlled the City Council; it’s been true when conservatives had the majority. It was true before the city quit having an on-staff city attorney in 2014. But the secrecy has been taken to new dimensions since Chico began renting legal services from a law firm based near Los Angeles. The firm, Alvarez-Glasman & Colvin, is practiced at keeping what should be public information hidden from Chico’s citizens. One example I cited at the forum was the contrived City Hall secrecy around Chico police officers’ gun-buying — at public expense but for the private ownership of the officers — at a gun shop owned by two Chico cops. read more