By Kassondra Cloos
The Gazette
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Colorado Springs police say it’s not in the public interest to release internal affairs files detailing the findings of an investigation in a traffic stop in which a black man was pulled from a car, in which he was a passenger, at gunpoint.
The officers were cleared of wrongdoing in the March incident that made national headlines after the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado called it a case of racial profiling and an issue of “driving while black.”
A video posted on YouTube by Colorado Springs resident Ryan Brown shows officer David Nelson did not answer repeated questions about why Brown’s brother, Benjamin, was pulled over, frisked and handcuffed on South Carefree Circle. Nelson then pulled Ryan Brown from the car with the assistance of officer Allison Detwiler, the video shows.
Ryan Brown filed a complaint with the Colorado Springs Police Department the day of the incident, and the ACLU is defending him in court against a misdemeanor charge of obstructing a peace officer. The case was transferred from Colorado Springs municipal court to El Paso County Court.
Benjamin Brown was ticketed for obstruction of view because of a cracked windshield, to which he pleaded guilty before the ACLU got involved, said ACLU of Colorado Legal Director Mark Silverstein.
The ACLU’s request that the internal affairs documents be released was denied.
“During the balancing test, the custodian recognized and acknowledged the high level of public interest in the CSPD IA investigation regarding the interaction between Mr. Brown and the CSPD officers on March 25, 2015,” the police department wrote in an email to The Gazette. “The custodian also took into account the current nationwide public focus on the conduct of law enforcement officers. After balancing the factors supporting and opposing disclosure of the documents the custodian determined that release of the records was contrary to the public interest.”
The Internal Affairs Office is the custodian of the documents referenced in the email, said police spokeswoman Lt. Catherine Buckley.
Police listed “the ongoing criminal case and prosecution” of Ryan Brown in El Paso County Court and the relevancy of the internal affairs investigation documents to the case as factors in the decision. The response also cited the privacy of officers named in the investigation, keeping “historical confidential files” confidential, jeopardizing future internal affairs investigations, and that “morale and performance would be negatively affected.”
Police wrote they would release the documents once Ryan Brown’s court case concludes.
That police would list factors “contrary to the public interest” that won’t change once the case is decided shows that they’re not relevant to releasing the files now, said Steve Zansberg, an attorney and president of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition who has represented The Gazette.
“Given the tremendous public interest in this incident, the balance of competing interests weighs heavily in favor of public disclosure,” Zansberg said.
Because the files are considered criminal justice records under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act, police have significant discretion on their release.
But in December 2005, a Denver judge ordered the Denver Police Department to release all but certain documents from two internal affairs files requested by community activists who learned police had monitored and kept files on them. Releasing files increases transparency and would ultimately improve the investigation process, Judge Catherine Lemon wrote in her ruling.
“There are several key factors that lead police officers to be frank and open in internal affairs investigations, and promises of confidentiality are not among them,” she wrote. “Internal affairs secrecy contributes to the ‘code of silence’ or ‘blue wall,’ by creating the expectation that things will be kept in house and away from objective outsiders. Open access to internal affairs files enhances the effectiveness of internal affairs investigations, rather than impairing them. Knowing that they will be scrutinized makes investigators do a better job and makes them and the department more accountable to the public.”
Silverstein says the public should know why officers were cleared. Detwiler can be seen in Ryan Brown’s video pointing a gun at him as Nelson pulled him from the car, but Detwiler was considered a “witness officer” in the investigation into Nelson’s actions. She was not the subject of a separate investigation.
Nelson did not give a clear indication in his report of why he pulled the Browns over. He wrote he saw the vehicle, with tinted windows, driving slowly through a “high crime area” earlier in the day, and that when he turned around to conduct a traffic stop, the vehicle “rapidly fled the area.” He did not indicate in the report whether he had his lights or sirens on.
Before he started filming, Ryan Brown allegedly told his brother, who was driving Ryan Brown’s car, not to cooperate with police, according to Nelson’s report.
Colorado Springs police sent Ryan Brown a letter dated June 8 that said Nelson was cleared of wrongdoing following the internal affairs investigation. The completed investigation “disclosed that the act complained of did occur, but was justified, legal and proper,” the letter stated.
The reasons police gave for not releasing the internal affairs files are “not valid,” Silverstein said.
“I don’t believe the officers have any privacy interest in what they’re doing in public while carrying out their official duties as police officers,” he said.
ACLU cooperating attorney Dan Recht, who represents Ryan Brown, plans to request the files be released as part of discovery for the criminal case, Silverstein said. Recht is urging the prosecutor to dismiss the case, “which would be the right thing to do,” Silverstein said.
“But I do believe the public has an interest in disclosure of these documents, that the Colorado Springs Police Department concluded that the officer’s actions occurred as depicted in the video, but that they were justified, legal and proper,” Silverstein said. “I think the public is interested in knowing the rationale and the reasoning that the police department used to come to that astonishing conclusion.”
Copyright 2015 The Gazette