One of several makeshift shrines for Michael Brown in Ferguson.
Abby Ohlheiser
reports:
In the lawsuit, filed Thursday in St. Louis County Circuit Court, the advocacy group said it had received an “inadequate response” to its original records request, which was made Tuesday. Thursday’s legal filing alleged that the county’s failure to produce an incident report “is a purposeful, or, in the alternate, knowing violation of the Sunshine Law.”
Despite inaccurate reports, the name of the officer who fatally shot Brown on Saturday remains officially unavailable. Originally, the Ferguson Police Department was expected to release the name on Tuesday.
But police officials changed their mind and decided not to identify the officer, citing safety concerns, with Brown’s death sparking widespread unrest.
The lawsuit says the incident report of the Brown shooting is an open record under Missouri's Sunshine Law. By refusing to release it, the suit says, the police department is knowingly or purposely violating that law.
The National Bar Association and at least one newspaper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, have also sought the police records.
Hacktivist group Anonymous released a name it claimed was the officer who shot Brown. But police officials said the man Anonymous named does not work for the Ferguson Police Department nor the St. Louis County Police Department. @TheAnonMessage Twitter account has been disabled.