A Wheeling-based attorney is suing Monongalia County Sheriff Perry Palmer and the County Commission over a denied Freedom of Information Act request.
Robert McCoid filed the suit in Monongalia County Circuit Court last week and said the FOIA denial was in violation of Palmer’s “non-discretionary duties imposed on him by FOIA.”
Palmer said he cannot comment on an active lawsuit.
According to the suit, the November FOIA request sought any formal or informal complaints of excessive physical force, abusiveness — verbal or otherwise — or civil or criminal battery made against Deputy Lance Kuretza by any suspect or arrestee.
The FOIA request was made Nov. 4 and denied 11 days later, stating the information was personal in nature and information kept in a personnel or medical files is exempt from FOIA request, the suit states.
However, that denial contradicted a 2015 Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia ruling in Charleston Gazette v. Smithers, which ruled the public has a right to access any complaint of misconduct, all documents in the case file, and the outcome of the case, with the names of the complainants or any other identifying information redacted, after the investigation or inquiry into the complaint is completed, the suit states.
The suit calls the FOIA denial “an outrageous affront to FOIA’s spirit.”
“So flagrant was the wrongful denial of the undersigned’s (McCoid) proper and narrowly tailored request in light of unambiguous, controlling law that it raises a very legitimate question as to what, exactly, Sheriff Palmer is seeking to hide from the public about Deputy Kuretza’s past conduct regarding excessive force and abusiveness when dealing with arrestees and members of the public,” the suit states.
The suit, which has not been assigned to a judge, seeks a declaratory judgment finding the requested records are not exempt from disclosure under FOIA, an injunction stopping the records from being withheld and the awarding of attorney fees and court costs.
McCoid also seeks the suit be expedited in accordance with West Virginia FOIA law.
A FOIA request from The Dominion Post seeking similar records — use of force reports by all deputies —was denied in December 2018. The Morgantown Police Department and WVU Police Department provided the same requested records.
