
Judge orders Oklahoma County jail to turn over Brent Swadley surveillance video by 5 p.m. today
A judge has ordered the Oklahoma County Detention Center to provide surveillance video to Brent Swadley's attorney by 5 p.m. today.
The video is from the incident where Swadley says 20% his middle finger was severed while he was in the jail awaiting sentencing. His attorney previously told me whether they pursue legal action against the jail depends largely on what the footage shows, especially the timeline of him getting stuck in the door and getting help.
One thing I found interesting while reporting this: our newsroom also requested the video through Oklahoma's Open Records Act, and the jail denied that request. Right now I'd guess our best chances of publicly seeing that video are through Swadley's attorney. (If he decides to share it)
I'm curious what people think about that. Should this type of jail surveillance video become public after an incident like this, or is it reasonable for the jail to withhold it?