Scripps News prevails in nearly two-year fight over body camera footage

Scripps News has prevailed in court after fighting for nearly two years to obtain body camera footage from a 2023 shooting in which police killed a teen robbery suspect in Lakewood, Colorado.

"That ruling/precedent sends a strong message that under the 2020 Act (Colorado’s Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act), police departments and sheriffs' offices are not permitted to withhold body worn camera footage merely because a minor is depicted or because the surviving family members of a suspected criminal do not want it released," said Steve Zansberg, the attorney who represented Scripps News in court.

The ruling is one of the first appellate court decisions enforcing a state statute enacted in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd that compels police to release footage of such incidents.

On behalf of Scripps News, Zansberg filed a lawsuit against Lakewood’s records manager in early 2024 after the city denied an open records request filed by Lori Jane Gliha, a national investigative reporter.

“This case proves that Scripps News journalists stand as true public watchdogs, fighting to enforce the public’s right to see what its officials are doing,” said Sadie Craig, senior counsel for Scripps.

How the case progressed

Gliha filed a formal request for body camera footage in September 2023. She expected it would show what transpired before, during, and after a March 2023 incident in which police shot and killed Mariana Martinez, 17, who was suspected of robbing a postal worker with a gun.

Alexis King, the district attorney for the jurisdiction where the shooting occurred, found the shooting to be justified. In September 2023, she wrote, "each agent had objectively reasonable grounds to believe that they, their teammate, and the community was in imminent danger of being killed or suffering serious bodily injury.”

A Lakewood police officer also suffered an injury in the shooting that was not life-threatening.

Lakewood police initially told reporters that the teen girl had fired her weapon at officers but later said the suspect had only pointed her gun at police before she was shot multiple times.

“What caught my attention was Mariana’s young age and the fact that the police reports in the press kept changing,” said Anita Springsteen, a former Lakewood city councilor who had reached out to Gliha about her concerns.

"The reason I wanted to see the footage is that I felt the city and the Lakewood Police Department were hiding something. Something felt off, and I wanted to stand up for my constituents and for justice and for transparency and figure out if they had done something wrong,” said Springsteen.

“I was concerned that perhaps the story was untrue, and that Mariana had not pointed a gun or had not even had a gun. But even if the story were true, I was concerned that perhaps the police had not handled it appropriately and that it could have been de-escalated,” she said.

Through an attorney, Martinez’s family also filed a formal notice with the city, initially alleging that “various state and/or federal laws (had) been violated.”

Under the Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act, police officers must wear and activate body-worn cameras when responding to calls for service, and upon request, all recordings of an incident shall be released to the public within 21 days after a law enforcement agency receives a complaint of misconduct.

However, the city of Lakewood declined to release the footage, citing privacy concerns under the Colorado Children’s Code.

In a legal answer to Scripps News’ complaint, the city of Lakewood argued that it “was required to protect the substantial privacy interests of the deceased juvenile.” The city said members of Martinez’s family requested that the footage not be released.

In July, the Colorado Court of Appeals sided with Scripps News.

“The victory we obtained is bittersweet,” said Zansberg. “The correct result was reached – the Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act is unambiguous and clear. So, it is gratifying that both the trial court and the Court of Appeals properly construed the law and applied it. What is tremendously disappointing though, is that the Court of Appeals allowed for months of delay by granting a stay without any finding that (Lakewood Police Department) was ‘likely to prevail’ on its appeal. The case should have ended in October of last year with that court’s denial of the city’s requested stay.”

Scripps News received footage from police in late July. Below is a brief excerpt of a key portion of the footage.

Note: the first 30 seconds of this police body camera footage is silent, as is typical for these recordings. Scripps News edited this video to pause it before the teen is shot, added captions, and highlighted the weapon she held.

An initial examination shows that Martinez, armed with a gun, pointed her weapon in the direction of police immediately prior to being shot and killed.

The video also shows police assisting their colleague, who suffered injuries to his face during the shooting. The recordings show one of the officers who fired shots expressing concern minutes after the gunfire that he may have inadvertently hit the injured officer due to “crossfire.” (The district attorney’s decision letter said the specific origin of the injury “cannot be confirmed.”)

“I was pleased that we were able to successfully challenge the public’s right to access body camera footage under the Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act; and also provide clarity on what happened surrounding the tragic shooting death of a 17-year-old girl,” said Rachael Johnson, an attorney for the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press who represented Scripps alongside Zansberg.

While Lakewood did release video from the cameras worn by each of the three officers who fired shots at Martinez, the city has yet to release video recorded by other officers who responded to the scene after the shooting. The city required Scripps News to file a new request for the remaining footage from the incident, and that request is still pending.

“Regardless of what the video reveals, the public has the right to see it, under the law,” said Gliha. “As journalists, we shine light on many things to make sure citizens have a complete picture of what is going on in their community and how things are transpiring. It’s important to have access to the whole story, especially when someone has been injured or killed. Citizens should be able to make informed decisions about their communities based on all the facts.”

Scripps News will have further reporting on this incident and the fight for public records in the weeks and months ahead.