Nearly a month and a half has passed since Jamar Smith crashed his Lexus into a tree after a night of drinking, nearly killing teammate Brian Carlwell. But like the Chief, the story just won’t go away.

I originally reported the story with basketball beat writer Erin Foley that ran in The Daily Illini when charges were filed against Smith on Feb. 22. During the course of our reporting, we sought out a police report of the incident from the University Police. To get one, we filed a Freedom of Information request with the University, and patiently waited a week for the records.

A letter arrived from Robin Kaler, Associate Chancellor and Public Records Officer, telling me that my request for the police records had been denied. Kaler cited two sections of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) that deny me access to the records. The first reason stated that giving me the records would “constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy…” The second reason stated that disclosure of the records would “interfere with pending … law enforcement proceedings.”

The first reason is ridiculous on its face as police reports are a matter of public record. The second reason seems to be a moot point considering charges were already filed against Smith. The investigation was already complete. What was the University hiding? The DI was just about done reporting on the Smith incident at this point, but wanting to satisfy my own curiosity, I appealed the decision to University President B. Joseph White, as I’m legally entitled to do.

In the appeal to the president I formally cited the sections of the FOIA that entitle me to the records. Under section 140/7(1)(d)(i, ii) of the act, I am entitled to “chronologically maintained arrest information, such as traditional arrest logs or blotters” and “the name of a person in the custody of a law enforcement agency and the charges for which that person is being held.” On March 8th I got an answer from President White:

“My review of your February 22, 2007, request leads me to conclude that Robin Kaler’s denial of your request … was appropriate,” White said. “…I must hereby deny your appeal of this matter.”

The University, and White, must be withholding these records from the public for a reason. Perhaps they hope that I, as well as the DI, will forget about the incident and move on. I’m not sure, but this is why I write this today. So that it doesn’t get forgotten.

But, what started out as mere curiosity for me has turned into outright skepticism. What is the University hiding? What could the records possibly say that could be so incriminating? And what could they include that we don’t already know about the incident?

This isn’t a matter of being right or wrong. It’s not even a matter of trying to find out more information about a crime — anymore. It’s about precedent.
Until the matter is dealt with, this story can’t go away. It shouldn’t go away.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 30th, 2007 at 1:07 pm and is filed under Carlwell/Smith crash. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.