Spokesman-Review Sues For Records Documents Refer To Attorney’s Alleged Attack On Police Officer

The Spokesman-Review filed a lawsuit Wednesday seeking police reports and the booking photograph of an assistant city attorney accused of assaulting a police officer.

The lawsuit says the Spokane Police Department is withholding the records in violation of state public records law.

The suit filed in Spokane County Superior Court asks the court to penalize the city $100 for each day the records are withheld.

Assistant City Attorney Milt Rowland was arrested May 30 after police say he punched an officer in the jaw following an early morning car wreck.

Police supervisors refused newspaper requests to release the police report of the incident or the photo taken when he was booked into Spokane County Jail.

Editor Chris Peck said the paper filed the lawsuit primarily to resolve an ongoing conflict with the Police Department over public records.

“We’re trying to establish where the rights and the obligations of the police are with regard to these records,” he said.

Assistant City Attorney Rocco Treppiedi would not comment on the lawsuit.

But he said city police have typically regarded investigation reports as private and exempt from state public records law.

Peck said the department’s policy on releasing information has become more restrictive in recent months.

“We feel readers of the newspaper need to have confidence that the activities of the police can be observed and documented.

“Nothing is more basic in that goal than keeping track of who the Police Department arrests, what they’re charged with and what they look like,” said Peck.

Treppiedi said the city will hire an outside attorney to respond to the lawsuit because the records involve an assistant city attorney.

The lawsuit requires the city to appear in Superior Court on July 15 to explain why the records shouldn’t be released.

, DataTimes