A local journalist is suing the city of San Diego for allegedly withholding police records related to two federal immigration enforcement operations that included an SDPD presence.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of Kate Morrissey, a former San Diego Union-Tribune reporter who cofounded the nonprofit newsroom Daylight San Diego, seeks records connected to two ICE operations at the Mesa Vista apartment complex in Linda Vista and the 47th Street trolley station.
Morrissey's lawsuit claims SDPD officers were called to assist with crowds who gathered at both operations, including some who were actively protesting against ICE.
After she requested records of the events, including SDPD body-worn camera footage and 911 call logs, the city declined to release some records by claiming they were exempt from public disclosure because they are records of law enforcement investigations, the lawsuit states.
But because the SDPD was not involved in investigating a crime at either operation, but rather crowd control, Morrissey alleges the information she sought shouldn't fall under that exemption.
"What happened at these raids demands public accountability," Morrissey said in a statement. "Body camera footage are exactly the kinds of records that allow the public and journalists to see what actually happened on the ground, not just what officials choose to tell us. The San Diego Police Department has an obligation to release these records, and we intend to hold them to it."
A San Diego City Attorney's Office spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit.
The first operation on July 2 drew a crowd of protesters to the Mesa Vista complex and led to the arrests by federal agents of three U.S. citizens and an undocumented migrant. Federal prosecutors filed charges against the four people for crimes that included assault on a federal agent, but later dismissed the cases against two of them.
At the second operation on Nov. 18, a crowd gathered to film and protest a federal immigration operation near the 47th Street trolley station. At one point, the SDPD arrested a man for allegedly striking a federal agent, which the lawsuit alleges occurred after federal agents "questioned, detained and used force against community members, including with pepper spray and direct physical force."
The SDPD said in statements released after both operations that its officers are not involved in immigration enforcement.
