In an important victory for the public’s right to know, R.I. Superior Court Judge Gilbert Indeglia today ordered the Central Falls Police Department to release to the ACLU the incident report generated by the fatal shooting last month of city resident Selvin Garrido.
Garrido was killed when police came to his apartment in response to a 911 call and Garrido allegedly came at them with a knife in his hand. Shortly after the shooting, the ACLU had filed an open records request for a copy of the police incident report, but the police department refused to release it, saying that it could not be turned over because a grand jury was investigating the shooting. The ACLU then filed suit against the department, leading to today’s court hearing and decision.
Ruling from the bench, Judge Indeglia held that the mere fact that the police report might be considered by a grand jury was an insufficient basis to withhold the record. He ordered the record released, but allowed the City to redact the names and addresses of any civilian witnesses listed in the report.
The ACLU expects to be provided a copy of the report within the next day.
