DPS responds to Bates request

By JANELLE STECKLEIN
Herald-Banner Staff

March 13, 2008 01:25 am

— Officials with Texas Department of Public Safety have asked the Texas Attorney General’s Office for a ruling regarding information pertaining to a December 2007 driving while intoxicated investigation.
DPS officials are asking the Attorney General for permission to withhold a police report, also known as an officer’s narrative, regarding the investigation of a Hunt County patrol vehicle accident, which occurred on Dec. 4, 2007, near Tawakoni.
The DPS is also asking for permission to withhold photographs and a videotape of the investigation and “vehicles involved that constitute a pictorial illustration of matters described in the documents.”
The Herald-Banner filed an open records request in late February requesting copies of reports regarding the investigation into the incident, which was investigated by the Hunt County DPS.
West Tawakoni resident Tiffany Bates has been arrested and charged with driving the patrol vehicle into a tree, though she has insisted that she is innocent and alleged that officers are trying to convict her of the crime to protect a former Hunt County Sheriff’s deputy.
The requested report, also known as the officer’s narrative, allegedly details what exactly went on that night during the investigation and what role each individual played that night — both at the accident scene and during the actual interrogation that took place at the Sheriff’s Office.
“Charges of Driving While Intoxicated are currently pending against Ms. Tiffany Bates,” wrote DPS Assistant General Counsel Janette Ansolabehere in a letter to the Texas Attorney General.
“The requested information may be used as evidence in any trial of Ms. Bates for this offense. Therefore, the Department contends the information is excepted (sic.) from release under (the government code), which excepts (sic.) from release information in the records of a law enforcement agency relating to the detection, investigation or prosecution of crime if its release would interfere with the detection, investigation or prosecution of crime. Since this is a pending criminal case, release of potential evidence would presumptively interfere with the prosecution of this matter,” she said.
The attorney general has 45 business days from the receipt of the DPS’s response to render a decision on the matter.