State police appeal ruling on crash report information

LITTLE ROCK — The Arkansas State Police has appealed a judge’s ruling the agency was improperly withholding information on traffic crash reports.

The appeal was filed Friday afternoon in Pulaski County Circuit Court by the Arkansas attorney general’s office, which is representing state police in the case.

In May, Little Rock attorney Daniel Wren sued state police and state police spokesman Bill Sadler in his official capacity for access to crash reports after Wren’s Freedom of Information Act request for the records was denied.

In June, state police started withholding nearly all personal information on crash reports available to the public unless the people requesting the reports qualified for certain exceptions. State police cited the 21-year-old federal Drivers Privacy Protection Act in its decision.

Passed in 1994, the Drivers Privacy Protection Act restricts the release of motor vehicle records by motor vehicle departments. The act was passed in part because of the death of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, who was killed in her California home in 1989 by a man who had hired a private investigator to use California motor vehicle records to find Schaeffer’s address.

Pulaski County Circuit Judge Morgan “Chip” Welch ruled June 23 crash reports are subject to the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act because they are not motor vehicle records and therefore not protected by the Drivers Privacy Protection Act.

The state has asked the Arkansas Supreme Court to decide on the appeal.

Wren’s attorney, M. Keith Wren, said he and his client — who is his brother and partner at the Wren Law Firm — weren’t surprised by the appeal.

“We kind of expected it,” he said.

Judd Deere, spokesman for Attorney General Leslie Rutledge, said he could not comment on the appeal because it’s an ongoing matter.

In January, state police stopped allowing bulk inspection of crash reports in response to state lawmakers passing a law that requires the names and addresses of minors involved in crashes to be redacted before reports are made available to the public. State police said redacting minors’ information on every report was an administrative burden.

On July 8, Welch amended his ruling to dissolve a 60-day stay he had allowed to give state police time to appeal the decision. His amended ruling was stayed for 10 days. Welch also made clear in his July 8 ruling both the January and June state police policies violated the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act.

State police had begun releasing personal information on crash reports again last week. Sadler said Monday “at this time” the agency was not considering withholding personal information from the reports while the case is being appealed.

The names of minors are still being redacted from reports in accordance with state law, and access to minors’ names was never at issue in the lawsuit.