NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP/WMOT) — A coalition of media organizations has filed a lawsuit against the city of Nashville to force release of records in the investigation of charges that four former Vanderbilt football players raped an unconscious fellow student last summer.
Media organizations, including the Tennessean and The Associated Press, filed the suit after city officials refused to turn over the materials. The city says they are not open to the public.
Frank Gibson of the Tennessee Press Association says this lawsuit has actually been decades in the making. He says a growing number of police departments across the state are withholding information that should be made public.
“They’ve already charged people in this one. There’s no more investigation going on. So a lot of these records, not all of them, but a lot of these records should be open.”
The lawsuit seeks the release of video surveillance, photographs and other records that Vanderbilt University turned over to police. The media organizations are not asking for video records of the alleged attack.