Pennsylvania State Police must release bodycam footage related to fatal shooting, judge rules
A Pennsylvania judge has ordered state police to release body-worn camera footage capturing a car chase that ended in a fatal officer-involved shooting last year, concluding that the public has a “weighty interest” in its disclosure.
In an order filed earlier this month, Dauphin County Judge Andrew Dowling sided with arguments made by Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press attorney Paula Knudsen Burke on behalf of a group of local television stations.
The victory marks the latest case in which Burke has successfully argued for the release of bodycam footage under Pennsylvania’s Act 22, a law that governs public access to recordings created by law enforcement agencies.
“Act 22 should shine a spotlight on the actions of law enforcement in Pennsylvania, but it can only do that if the law is interpreted as it was here — in favor of maximum transparency,” Burke said. “As the court’s decision confirms, the public’s interest in accessing these recordings to better understand officers’ use of deadly force outweighs the police’s interest in keeping this footage secret.”
The footage could provide context to the deadly April confrontation between Pennsylvania State Police and Deshawn Leeth, who a state trooper shot on the Pennsylvania turnpike after Leeth stole a police cruiser in Ohio and drove into Pennsylvania. The Beaver County District Attorney investigated the incident and concluded that the shooting was justified, determining that there were no criminal violations on behalf of the officers involved.
After reporters for the television station WKBN obtained police video showing Ohio troopers’ interactions with Leeth leading up to the shooting, Chelsea Simeon, a producer for WKBN, WFYX, and WYTV, sent the Pennsylvania State Police an Act 22 request for their related footage.
The state police denied Simeon’s request, claiming the recordings contained potential evidence related to a criminal investigation. On behalf of Nexstar Media, Inc., the owner and operator of the television stations, Burke appealed the denial to the Dauphin County Court of Common Pleas.
In the petition, Burke argued that the requested footage can’t be withheld based on the claim that it’s relevant to an investigation because the Beaver County District Attorney declined to bring charges against the officers involved. Burke highlighted the sprawling news coverage of the shooting, arguing that the state police’s account of the shooting “leaves many important questions unanswered.”
“Access to the requested footage will give the public and the press insight into these questions to better understand the circumstances surrounding Mr. Leeth’s death at the hands of law enforcement,” the petition stated.
Judge Dowling agreed with Burke’s arguments, rejecting the Pennsylvania State Police’s claim that Act 22 exempts footage related to any investigation, even a completed one. That interpretation of the law, he wrote, if accepted, would “essentially nullify Act 22 since it would exempt from public access most, if not all, recordings made by law enforcement.”
The ruling appears to be the second court order granting a request to access police recordings under Act 22, which was passed in 2017. The first came in November in another case litigated by Burke and Reporters Committee Staff Attorney Gunita Singh. Burke has pushed to bring Act 22 lawsuits on behalf of journalists and newsrooms in Pennsylvania since 2021, a few months after she joined the Reporters Committee.
The Pennsylvania State Police has until Feb. 5 to turn over the footage or appeal the ruling.