Oklahoma Watch and reporter Whitney Bryen are suing Ponca City seeking details about the arrest of Patrick Hansen who was taken by police to the Kay County jail where he died.
Bryen requested the arrest report from the Ponca City Police Department under the Oklahoma Open Records Act on July 19. The request was part of Bryen’s investigation into who died in Oklahoma’s jails, how they ended up there in the first place and whether mental health and substance use conditions contributed to their deaths.
The officer’s summary of the incident and arrest was missing from the document provided to Bryen. Those first-hand accounts detail how officers responded, who was present, what information officers received, if officers noticed signs of mental illness or substance use, whether weapons were displayed or discharged and what led to the arrest.
Hansen, 39, was arrested by Ponca City police on July 26, 2022, for allegedly assaulting his wife in front of a child, according to the information provided by the department. There were no details about the officer’s response or the events leading up to the arrest. Hansen was taken to the Kay County jail where he hanged himself in a cell on Sept. 12, 2022.
A Ponca City records employee and city attorney John Andrew told Bryen that the department does not release officer narratives to the public.
The Oklahoma Open Records Act requires law enforcement agencies to allow public access to certain records such as offense report information and facts concerning an arrest, including a brief summary of what occurred.
When Bryen called Andrew to ask why the information wasn’t being released, Andrew said the topic was discussed at a meeting of the Oklahoma Association of Municipal Attorneys and several cities are now claiming the narratives are not a public record.
For her investigation, Bryen requested arrest reports from another 15 police departments and county sheriffs across the state that provided her with officer summaries.
Andrew did not respond to a request for comment sent Friday afternoon.
Withholding officers’ accounts prevents the public from seeing what public servants are doing, which goes against the spirit of the law, said Ted Streuli, executive director of the non-profit Oklahoma Watch.
Streuli is a former president of Freedom of Information Oklahoma, a nonprofit organization formed to protect government transparency.
“The records belong to the public; they’re not private documents to be secreted away by an agency with police powers that wants to operate in the dark,” Streuli said.
Denver Nicks, a Tulsa-based attorney with the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press representing Oklahoma Watch and Bryen, said officer narratives are vital to ensuring accountability for these public servants.
“The state’s open records law makes clear that Oklahomans have a right to access this information, which is essential to public oversight of law enforcement,” Nicks said.
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