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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — The Latest on a Florida sheriff's office asking $314,000 to fulfill a public records request related to a pedestrian killed by a police cruiser (all times local):
5 p.m.
A Florida sheriff is defending his office's $314,000 estimate to fulfill a public records request submitted by the family of a man who was fatally struck by a police car.
Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said Wednesday that the request filed by the family's attorney asked for the records of all officers who had worked for the office over the past 10 years.
Williams says the time it would take to redact confidential information from each officer's file, as well as viewing thousands of hours of video, led to the high cost estimate.
The attorney for the family of Blane Land, who was fatally struck by a cruiser driven by Officer Tim James in May, filed the request seeking background information on the officer who hit Land.
Williams said the records of just Officer James' personnel file cost about $600 and provided them Wednesday after a newspaper story about the high cost estimate brought attention to the case.
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8 a.m.
A Florida sheriff's office is asking the family of a pedestrian killed by a police cruiser to pay $314,000 for access to public records related to the officer who was driving the vehicle.
The Florida Times-Union reports that the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office returned the huge bill for the records search after an attorney for the family of Blane Land requested records related to the officer's personnel history.
Sheriff's spokeswoman Lauri-Ellen Smith says the office is reviewing the matter. Sheriff's officer Tim James fatally hit Land in May and was arrested in June.
Barbara Peterson of the Florida First Amendment Foundation told the newspaper the high estimate is likely a violation of Florida's public records law because it denies the constitutional right to access records.
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Information from: The (Jacksonville) Florida Times-Union, http://www.jacksonville.com
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