Capitol News Illinois is suing Sangamon County and Sangamon County Central Dispatch system after a denial of a Freedom of Information Act request related to a multi-county chase that resulted in the death of a Kansas man last month.
The news outlet made the request September 29th after learning about the chase, but both the sheriff’s office and county dispatch denied the request the next day, citing interference with an ongoing investigation.
The complaint filed last Friday in Sangamon County Circuit Court asserts that the denial violates FOIA by failing to state the specific reason for the denial, including a detailed factual basis.
The complaint goes on to state that the county is not the investigating agency, so the exemption cited by the county is applicable “only if release of the record would interfere with an investigation being conducted by the agency that is the recipient of the request.”
Illinois State Police are investigating the death of 43-year old Kirtis Shane Davenport of Kansas City, Kansas as an officer-involved death. Davenport died at a St. Louis hospital four days after he was found on Binny Station Road in rural Staunton. No cause of death has been released. Two Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputies have been put on administrative leave as a result of the State Police investigation and death. Crouch told the State Journal Register that the administrative leave is a precautionary measure due to the potential of it being an officer-involved death.
Sangamon County Sheriff Paula Crouch says that her office cannot specify details about the death of Davenport. Crouch told the SJ-R that the Sangamon County Sheriff’s Office cannot confirm or deny if Davenport was in the Dodge Ram pick up that police were pursuing after a burglary call for stolen motorcycles from Hall’s Motorcycles in Springfield during the early morning hours of September 22nd. Crouch said there was a significant gap between the deputies and the fleeing truck, so it is not known whether the man was related to the burglary or pursuit. The Dodge Ram pickup was found the next day in Livingston, Illinois the next day. The pickup turned out to be stolen from the State of Kansas. Multiple firearms were reportedly found in the vehicle by Madison County detectives.
For more than a week following the pursuit, county officials released no information on the pursuit, but after providing limited answers to questions submitted by Capitol News Illinois, Sangamon County Sheriff Paula Crouch issued a press release detailing some of the incident. Crouch had been on the job for just 4 days when the pursuit occurred, after being sworn in as Sheriff Jack Campbell’s replacement in the wake of the Sonya Massey shooting at the hands of a Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Sean Grayson. Campbell resigned amid criticism of the county’s handling of the Massey Shooting investigation and hiring practices surrounding Grayson’s hire into the department.