Mom of 15-year-old killed by OKC police sues for video

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — The mother of 15-year-old boy who was shot to death by Oklahoma City police in November is asking a judge to order the city to “immediately furnish” footage from officers’ body cameras.

A lawsuit filed Tuesday argues that the city is violating state law by failing to release the footage of the Nov. 23 shooting of Stavian Rodriguez. The suit contends the recordings are public records subject to disclosure, The Oklahoman reported.

Attorney Rand Eddy initially sought the recordings in a Dec. 14 letter written on behalf of the boy’s mother, Cameo Holland. The city, so far, has neither produced the recordings nor said why it won’t, according to Eddy.

State law requires law enforcement agencies to make body-worn camera recordings “available for public inspection and copying,” he said.

Rodriguez was shot by officers responding to a reported armed robbery attempt. TV news video appeared to show Rodriguez outside a gas station, dropping a gun. The boy raises his hands, then lowers them before being shot.

“Six weeks seems like more than enough time to provide the video given the nature of this event,” Joey Senat, an associate professor at Oklahoma State University and an expert on public records law, told The Oklahoman.

Rodriguez’s death happened less than three weeks after the killing of a Black man whose family members said was mentally ill, prompting two days of protests over police violence shortly before Christmas.