BOULDER (CN) — The Boulder Police Department tried to charge a Colorado publication more than $1,000 a minute to access body-worn camera footage from a 2023 police fatality, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in the District Court for Boulder County.
On Dec. 17, 2023, Boulder police approached Jeanette Alatorre, 51, in response to complaints at a city recreation center. Alatorre challenged police to a fight and pointed an object that looked like a handgun at officers, prompting one to fire nine shots, killing her. Later, police determined Alatorre was carrying a Beretta APX .177 caliber air pistol, which resembled an actual firearm, according to a press release explaining the district attorney’s office's decision not to pursue charges.
When Boulder-based publication Yellow Scene Magazine requested body-worn camera footage from the incident, the police department attempted to charge $8,484 for access.
Reporters narrowed their request to the 13-minute period showing Alatorre with the gun, for which the police department offered to charge only $1,425.
Yellow Scene and parent company SMB Advertising sued the City of Boulder claiming violations of the Law Enforcement Integrity Act, passed in the wake of George Floyd’s murder in 2020.
The law requires police to not only wear cameras, but to release raw footage to the public in a timely manner, with no fee requirement.
In communications with Yellow Scene's attorneys, the city claimed it was authorized to charge research fees under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act.
"Without speedy accountability by the release of unedited video evidence of police actions, events like the murder of George Floyd at the hands of the Minneapolis police may have gone unrecognized,” the plaintiffs argue in the complaint.
Instead of releasing raw video on request, Yellow Scene contends the city uploaded “highly edited and narrated excepts," which promote the police department's side of the story.
“Boulder seeks to shield its police from public scrutiny by creating a curated narrative to suit the city’s interests rather than allowing unedited footage to expose the truth regarding its police officers’ actions,” Yellow Scene contends.
In the complaint, the plaintiffs recall six instances of the Boulder Police Department carrying out excessive force over the last five years, from pointing a gun at a Black college student who was picking up trash at his apartment in 2019, and taking children away from a deaf woman staying at a domestic violence shelter in 2022.
Yellow Scene asks the court to order the police to release the Alatorre videos and award costs.
Yellow Scene is represented by Daniel Williams, a Boulder-based attorney with the firm Hutchinson Black and Cook.
Representatives for the City of Boulder did not immediately respond to inquiries for comment.
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