FOIA Friday: New footage shows ‘excessive force’ history of Chesterfield officer

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One of the less noticed features of the Virginia Way is the long-running tendency of the commonwealth’s leaders to conduct their decision-making behind closed doors. While the Virginia Freedom of Information Act presumes all government business is by default public and requires officials to justify why exceptions should be made, too many Virginia leaders in practice take the opposite stance, acting as if records are by default private and the public must prove they should be handled otherwise.

In this feature, we aim to highlight the frequency with which officials around Virginia are resisting public access to records on issues large and small — and note instances when the release of information under FOIA gave the public insight into how government bodies are operating.

Chesterfield officer facing suit for shooting of Charles Byers shown using excessive force in traffic stop from newly-obtained video

A video obtained by WTVR shows a Chesterfield County police officer striking a man in the face during a traffic stop, which courts deemed “excessive force” in a subsequent lawsuit. The officer from that video is currently facing a lawsuit alleging excessive force in the deadly police shooting of Charles Byers last summer.

The footage was retrieved from the clerk’s office at the Richmond federal courthouse, Tyler Layne, the WTVR reporter told Virginia Mercury.

“Interestingly enough, it took the clerk’s office a few days to produce the footage, because they did not have a procedure in place for producing copies of footage,” he said in an email. “Apparently, they had never received that request before. So after my request – they actually developed new protocols for the clerk’s office on responding to requests for video.”

In the footage of the 2019 traffic stop, video shows a driver being pulled over with the officer not immediately telling him why. Upon inquiry, the officer replied that the driver’s headlight was out and asked him to exit the vehicle. Despite the driver not physically resisting, the officer struck him in the face before pulling him to the ground and arresting him. A lawsuit brought by the driver was eventually settled in 2022 for an undisclosed amount, but the officer is now a defendant in the case involving Byer’s death.

WTVR had also obtained footage of the officer’s encounter with Byers — who’d been in a mental health crisis and under a court order to be held in a psychiatric facility last summer. In that video, Byer was holding a hatchet near his knees and didn’t comply with officers’ commands. In the fatal encounter, Byers ran away from officers as he was shot multiple times.

Layne, the WTVR reporter said he’d initially been denied a FOIA request for the footage of Byers’ shooting but was able to access it through the federal court system after a link to the video was posted as part of a court filing.

Byers’ family’s attorney claimed the officer had violated his right to be free from excessive force, failed to de-escalate the situation and failed to warn that he would use lethal force. The family is also suing Chesterfield County. Their attorney alleges it had knowledge of the officer’s “propensity to use excessive force” but “allowed him to be on the street,” WTVR reports.

The Mercury’s efforts to track FOIA and other transparency cases in Virginia are indebted to the work of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government , a nonprofit alliance dedicated to expanding access to government records, meetings and other state and local proceedings.

Suffolk school leaders refuse to answer questions about school intruder detailed in FOIA

A video WTKR obtained through FOIA shows a man trespassing at Kilby Shores Elementary School before barricading himself in a bathroom with students. Elected and appointed officials in the school district have not responded to local media questions about the event.

A man named Vontrail Thorpe, who is purportedly the man in the video, has since been charged with multiple felony counts to include breaking and entering, trespassing, possession of narcotics on school property and a misdemeanor of disorderly conduct.

The night before the June 14 event, the School Safety Audit Committee — a consortium of area volunteers — had shared a presentation with school board members about safety enhancement suggestions. Brandon Randleman, a citizen volunteer with the committee, told the outlet that he has a weeks-old email that’s gone unanswered to school leaders, administrators and members of the safety committee to hold an emergency meeting about what happened.

Lynchburg councilors allege city attorney’s entanglement in election outcome lawsuit

Election results drama continues as Lynchburg’s city attorney and two councilmembers verbally sparred at a recent special city council meeting, Cardinal News reports .

After Peter Alexander lost to current Vice Mayor Chris Faraldi for a council seat in the June 18 Republican primary, Alexander sued claiming absentee ballots were not counted.

Council members Marty Misjuns and Jeff Helgeson — who supported Alexander — allege that calls and emails made by city attorney Matt Freedman equate to public funds spent on personal litigation. Shortly after the suit had been filed, Helgeson said that Freedman had called several council members and sent an email labeled “attorney-client privilege with action items.”

The back and forth prompted harsh words from Freedman during a special meeting.

“First, the city is not representing Vice Mayor Faraldi in the pending Alexander v. Faraldi lawsuit,” Freedman said. “Second, council members Helgeson and Misjuns are not attorneys, not qualified to speak on matters of law and not in charge of the law business of the city. I am.”

While he affirmed the city is not legally involved in the lawsuit, he said that there is interest in the outcome.

This is because the suit “could potentially affect thousands of city voters, the city paid for the election and the lawsuit makes very serious allegations against the city’s registrar and electoral board, who are deemed employees of the city under Virginia law.”

The full contents of Freedman’s email have not been made available to the public. Misjuns and Helgeson told local media they want to make the email public but can’t because Freedman marked it confidential due to attorney-client privilege.

Meanwhile, both Alexander and Faraldi have appeared at a hearing for the case which could be resolved ahead of the November general election.

Case information now available online and free of charge for Fairfax Circuit Court

Though not directly FOIA-related, transparency and access to court records is easier now in Fairfax County.

That’s because the county’s Circuit Court unrolled a new online portal for people to search case information online for free. FFX Now reports that the new tool builds on a campaign promise from the county’s circuit court clerk who was elected last year.

“This electronic service will mark a significant milestone in enhancing public access to Circuit Court Case information, fostering transparency, and promoting accountability within the legal system,” he wrote in a statement.

Previously, online access to case information — including hearing dates and charges — was only granted through a subscription to the Court Public Access Network . This costs users $150 per quarter or $600 per year.

Have you experienced local or state officials denying or delaying your FOIA request? Tell us about it: info@virginiamercury.com

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