A new exception to the open records law enacted in 2021, KRS 61.878(1)(q), authorizes nondisclosure of "photographs or videos that depict the death, killing, rape, or sexual assault of a person."
https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=51393
Although it excludes body cam video, the new exception would prohibit public access to security video (such as video taken at the Los Angeles Burlington Coat Factory in the custody of LAPD or, in a case closer to home, the surveillance video that captured the 2020 National Guard shooting of David McAtee in West Louisville). It has already been invoked to deny media access to jail surveillance video involving an inmate's death.
https://www.state-journal.com/news/county-denies-sj-video-of-jail-inmat…
The Kentucky Open Government Coalition unsuccessfully opposed the new exception based on the position that the existing privacy exception to the open records law, KRS 61.878(1)(a), already shields such video from public inspection if disclosure advances no competing public interest (under the balancing of competing public and private interests analysis). The new exception erects an impenetrable barrier to access regardless of the existence of a compelling public interest.
The scope of the new exception has, in the meantime, been called into question. Is it limited to the moment of death or does it include the moments before and after the death. The new exception has not yet been invoked in the context of video of sexual assault or rape but is concerning to the extent it might be used to shield correctional staff or inmate misconduct.
CBS Los Angeles Times:
"The LAPD released the video â four days after the confrontation â in which they say they got a 911 call of shots fired inside the store.
"The security video began with suspect 24-year-old Daniel Elena Lopez, who had an extensive criminal record, shown inside the store swinging a bike lock at customers and repeatedly violently attacking multiple women.
"At one point, he shoved someone down an elevator and took off his pants. Later, he dragged a woman to the floor, violently beating her with the bike lock until she was covered in blood and badly hurt.
"At about the same time â the LAPD body cam video showed officers arriving at the Burlington store, at 12121 Victory Blvd, where they found the female victim on the ground. Lopez was several feet away from her when an officer fired three shots at him. He was later pronounced dead.
"The LAPD says one of the officer's bullets ricocheted off the floor and into a wall before striking and killing Valentina.
"LAPD Chief Michel Moore, who was out of town with family but briefed on the shooting, said in a statement over the holiday weekend: 'This chaotic incident resulting in the death of an innocent child is tragic and devastating for everyone involved.'"
