Paterson refuses to release recordings in Najee Seabrooks police shooting

PATERSON — The city’s law department on Friday afternoon refused to make public extensive records from the fatal police shooting of Najee Seabrooks, including all 911 calls and body camera videos.

The city’s refusal to release the video recordings seems to contradict the position Mayor Andre Sayegh took several weeks ago when he called for the New Jersey Attorney General’s Office to make public the footage of the shooting.

The attorney general's office on March 16 provided the news media with almost four hours of video footage from body cameras worn by seven Paterson police officers who responded to the scene, including the actual shooting as recorded by three cops’ cameras. The state also released seven 911 calls made by Seabrooks.

But the video recordings distributed by the attorney general's office represents only a fraction of the footage of an almost-five-hour long standoff on March 3 involving numerous cops and a man with knives going through a possible drug-induced mental health crisis. Also, it’s not clear whether other 911 calls were made about the incident as the tense and tragic drama unfolded.

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Social justice activists, law enforcement officials and public officials say many questions remain unanswered despite what the released recordings show.

On the day after Seabrooks was killed, Paterson Press filed four Open Public Records Act requests seeking all body-camera recordings, all 911 calls, all police radio transmission and all police incident reports.

The city law department initially asked for a 14-day extension of New Jersey’s OPRA deadline and then rejected Paterson Press’ requests on Friday.

“All public records shall be subject to public access unless they fall within any OPRA exemption,” the Paterson law department said. “In the instant matter, the request being sought fell within an OPRA exemption, ongoing investigation.”

The law department then cited the OPRA law and said, “a request that is based on an investigation can be denied, ‘…if the inspection, copying or examination of such record or records shall be inimical to the public interest.’”

Mayor Sayegh: 'Let me get to the bottom of this'

Sayegh seemed caught off-guard when Paterson Press contacted him about the city's law department’s refusal to release the records.

“Let me get to the bottom of this,” the mayor said.

Two hours later, Sayegh told a reporter that his administration was asking the AG's Office for permission to release the documents. It was not clear why the Sayegh administration hadn't consulted with the AG's Office prior to issuing its OPRA denial letter on Friday. The city's OPRA denial letter made no mention of needing or seeking the AG's approval.

"If they say we can do it, we will do it," Sayegh said.

But Sayegh’s critics said the refusal to release the records was typical of his administration.

“Transparency is just a cliché for the Sayegh administration,” said Councilman Michael Jackson.

Jackson was among the challengers defeated by Sayegh in last May’s election. He said if he were mayor, he would make sure the recordings and reports were released.

“This is exactly what government is supposed to be about,” Jackson said. “It’s supposed to be about being forthcoming with the people.”

Paterson Black Lives Matter leader Zellie Thomas talked about the inconsistency in the mayor’s calls for the release of the videos and his administration’s refusal to do so.

“It shows he doesn’t really care about transparency,” Thomas said, “and if he doesn’t really care about transparency, then he doesn’t really care about accountability.”

Officials at the attorney general's office said the state normally tries to expedite the release of the most pertinent portions of body-camera video of police shootings. After that, if someone files an OPRA request for the rest of the records, the state does so after reviewing and redacting them, officials said.

Last year, the city rejected Paterson Press’ OPRA request for body-camera video of the two officers who took Felix DeJesus into custody just before his disappearance. But USA TODAY Network New Jersey and Paterson Press filed a legal challenge to that decision and a judge eventually ordered Paterson to make the DeJesus video public.

Joe Malinconico is editor of Paterson Press. Email: editor@patersonpress.com

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Najee Seabrooks shooting: Paterson refuses to release videos, calls