The Tribune-Democrat v. City of Johnstown
Case Number: 2025-3800
Court: Cambria County Court of Common Pleas
Client: The Tribune-Democrat
Background: On June 15, 2025, an individual shot and wounded four women outside a nightclub in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. According to news reports, community members voiced concerns about the police response to the shooting. Some community members specifically mentioned that no ambulances or EMS workers ever arrived at the scene of the crime.
Three weeks after the shooting, Dave Sutor, a reporter for The Tribune-Democrat, hand-delivered a request to the city of Johnstown seeking access to police-worn body camera footage and dashboard camera footage capturing the police response to the shooting. Sutor requested the records under Pennsylvania’s Act 22, a law passed in 2017 authorizing members of the public to request video or audio recordings created by law enforcement agencies.
The city denied Sutor’s request, citing the wrong law. In its response, the city provided no basis for its denial other than stating that the request was denied under the general Right-to-Know Law provision permitting withholding of records “relating to or resulting in a criminal investigation.”
On behalf of The Tribune-Democrat, attorneys from the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press filed this petition for review asking the Cambria County Court of Common Pleas to order the city of Johnstown to turn over the requested records. The petition argues that the public interest in disclosure outweighs the government’s interest in keeping the records secret.
From the Petition: “[A]ccess to the requested footage will give the public, the press, and police departments across the country attempting to be more responsive to the communities they serve a better understanding of the circumstances surrounding the City’s responsiveness — or lack thereof.”
Related: In 2021, Burke filed the first Act 22 case to be heard by a court in Pennsylvania on behalf of a journalist and LNP Media, helping them obtain more than a dozen hours of police bodycam footage capturing a clash between protesters and law enforcement officers during demonstrations demanding police reform and accountability in 2020. Since then, she has represented journalists and news outlets in several other Act 22 cases, including Nephin v. City of Lancaster, Nexstar Media, Inc. v. Pennsylvania State Police, and Thompson v. Cumberland County.
Filings:
2025-08-28: Petition for review
2025-10-08: Answer to petition