Info Sought on Shooting of Black Mom by Feds

WASHINGTON (CN) - Uncle Sam must divulge records on the fatal shooting by Secret Service agents of a black woman at the U.S. Capitol, a news organization claims in court.

The five-page complaint WorldNetDaily.com Inc. filed this week offers no details itself on the Oct. 3, 2013, shooting of Miriam Carey, but the case made headlines at the time.

Reports say Secret Service agents and Capitol police pursued the 34-year-old dental hygienist after she drove her black Infiniti into a checkpoint near the White House and then struck an officer while attempting to make a U-turn rather than stop.

When shots fired by the officers ended the chase, they discovered Carey had been driving with her 1-year-old daughter, unharmed in the backseat.

An autopsy report showed that Carey sustained five bullets from behind - struck three times in the back, once in the head, and once in the arm.

WorldNetDaily says it requested documents from the Justice Department on the Carey case in August 2014.

The Freedom of Information Act request allegedly sought "all materials used in the investigation by the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, and reviewed by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia" in the case, plus "the final report and findings of that investigation."

After acknowledging receipt of WorldNetDaily's request, the Justice Department denied the news organization a fee waiver or reduction, according to the complaint.

In October the government allegedly said it would not do further work on the request unless WorldNetDaily agreed "to pay anticipated fees amounting to more than $25."

Though government "acknowledged [WorldNetDaily's] commitment to pay the necessary fees," the request was still pending by November, according to the complaint.

Last month, the Justice Department allegedly "informed plaintiff that its request 'is waiting to be assigned and processed by a paralegal as are other requests that are before yours.'"

Still there is no sign of the documents, WorldNetDaily says.

The Chantilly, Va.-based website wants proof that the Justice Department "employed search methods reasonably likely to lead to the discovery of records responsive to plaintiff's request."

A federal judge should order the government "to produce, by a date certain, any and all non-exempt records responsive to the request," plus an index of any responsive records that it is withholding as exempt, the complaint states.

WorldNetDaily is represented by Paul Orfanedes of Judicial Watch Inc.

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