Chris Morisse Vizza

The publisher of the Purdue Exponent filed suit Tuesday against Purdue University to obtain a copy of surveillance videos of a confrontation between police and an Exponent photojournalist.

One fact agreed upon is that the confrontation occurred less than one hour after the Jan. 21 fatal shooting of student Andrew Boldt in a basement classroom in the Electrical Engineering Building.

But police, and Exponent photo editor Michael Takeda have provided differing descriptions of what happened when officers discovered him on the second floor of the Electrical Engineering buildings.

Takeda on Jan. 28 filed a complaint against Purdue police alleging that officers pushed him to the ground after he identified himself as a journalist and complied with an order to go on his knees, detained him for two hours, damaged and confiscated his camera and verbally threatened him.

Chief John Cox announced in February that an internal review found Takeda's "detention was not unwarranted," that Takeda did not heed officers' verbal commands, attempted to flee and that there was "insufficient evidence to confirm or refute" the allegations.

The university subsequently denied the Exponent's request for the videos, stating the material was protected under Indiana's Access to Public Records Act, which allows public agencies "the discretion to exempt investigatory records of law enforcement agencies," according to an email response from Abby K. Daniels, Purdue's legal services coordinator.

The Exponent then asked Indiana's Public Access Counselor to find that the video records were not created to be part of the police investigation, said Exponent publisher and general manager Pat Kuhnle.

But the Public Access Counselor's opinion issued in April supported Purdue's claim that the videos "are clearly related to the criminal investigation."

Cox reopened the internal investigation in May, and showed less than 30 seconds of surveillance video to Takeda, and the Exponent's attorney, Kuhnle said. But Purdue still refused to release the videos, claiming they are part of an ongoing investigation, he said.

The Exponent requested a meeting to resolve the dispute in July, and Kuhnle said he saw the video snippets from different cameras edited together. He said a Tippecanoe County sheriff's deputy was coming down the steps from the EE third floor, and three Purdue officers were coming up from the first floor when they saw Takeda.

"As I was watching it I had an audible gasp ... because of what I had seen," Kuhnle said. "Our photographer goes to his knees. You can see the sheriff"s deputy's hand behind the photographer, but you can't see clearly from that angle what level of force the deputy uses. Then, one of the Purdue officers appears to help him up by grabbing his collar. As they walked to the stairwell, he was pushed against the wall by one Purdue officer, and yelled at by another officer."

The videos will allow the public to draw their own conclusions about what happened, Kuhnle said.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana had been following the case since January, Kuhnle said, and filed suit on behalf of Purdue Student Publishing Foundation, which publishes the Exponent.

"The Access to Public Records Act is a fundamental constitutional right to access the records of officials who work for us every day," said Kelly Eskew, an ACLU Indiana staff attorney. "We are concerned that there are public records not being disclosed."

The case goes beyond the rights of a free press, said Stephen Key, executive director and general counsel for the Hoosier State Press Association.

"Any citizen has a right to know how government officials are operating, whether it's by looking at a budget or, in this case, it's a media outlet pushing for access to university records," Key said.

"It is vital to the public having a comfort level that the people who represent them are taking the public's interest to heart, and not the agency's interest."

Purdue referenced the public access counselor's decision in a statement issued by spokeswoman Liz Evans. "The complaint challenges the conclusion of the Indiana Public Access Counselor, whose April 4 determination in favor of Purdue is attached to the complaint and is linked here: http://www.in.gov/pac/advisory/files/14-FC-41.pdf. As confirmed by the Public Access Counselor, Purdue has followed the requirements of the Access to Public Records Act."

But the public access counselor's conclusion is only an advisory opinion, said Eskew.

The lawsuit was filed in Tippecanoe Superior Court 2, the same court where former student Cody Cousins faces a murder charge in connection with Boldt's death.

Eskew said she was not aware the murder case was pending before Judge Thomas Busch. "I don't think the two are related, but he certainly has the right to ask the case be moved to another court," she said.

The lawsuit asks the judge to determine that the surveillance videos do not fall within the investigatory records exception; order Purdue to disclose the requested video; award the Exponent reasonable costs and attorneys' fees; and award all other proper relief.

The Exponent, Purdue's daily student newspaper, has operated separately from Purdue since 1969, and has never filed suit against the university, Kuhnle said.

"We have a good relationship with the university," he said. Unfortunately, it has come to this."