ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The Kodiak Police Department says it will release video and written reports of a physical encounter between three officers and an autistic man.
The department’s announcement Tuesday comes after Judge Steve Cole ordered the city to release the documents related to the September incident. Cole gave the city until Thursday to release recordings from the officers’ chest cameras.
The police department said it is in the process of gathering the materials and will have them ready for full release by the due date.
“While the city has only been ordered to release the three chest (camera) videos, the city intends to release audio, videos, and police reports of the incident in light of the judge’s legal interpretation of the exemption under which the documents were withheld,” the department said.
Kodiak Public Broadcasting Co. filed a lawsuit against the city, seeking the release of documents in the case involving the officers and 28-year-old Nick Pletnikoff.
According to the suit, Pletnikoff had been checking his family’s mailbox Sept. 16 when the officers handcuffed and pepper sprayed him. He was not arrested or charged.
Pletnikoff’s family has hired a defense attorney, who is privately investigating the incident along with the Angstman Law Office in Bethel.
Pletnikoff’s mother, Judy, said she is encouraged by the release of the video but upset that it took this long. She said her son has been traumatized by the incident.
“I’d really like to get Nick back to his considerate, reasonable self, and not have to live with this cloud over him,” she said.
