BPD bodycam video becomes issue in federal extradition case of Turkish 16-year-old after the department releases video of his arrest at a JP prep school

Lawyers for a 16-year-old charged with running down and killing a man standing by the side of the road in Turkey and federal prosecutors have been busy wrangling over whether he should be detained without bail - in a juvie center run by the state of Connecticut - as he and his mother await deportation hearings that could end with him being sent back to Turkey to stand trial.

The latest issue: Video from cameras worn by Boston officers who arrested mother and son as they were about to enter the British International School of Boston in Jamaica Plain on June 14 at the request of federal authorities and the Turkish government. In response to public-records request from Turkish media outlets, Boston Police released copies of the video - with the faces of the teen and other non-officers blurred out.

The video shows E-13 officers treating the teen gently, even loosening his handcuffs and rolling down the window in the back of the cruiser so he could get some air - and at the end shows his mother, Turkish author Eylem Tok, being led to another cruiser.

In a Friday filing in US District Court in Boston, one of the teen's American lawyers, Victoria Kelleher, said this is the latest outrageous example of why he should be released on bail to live with American relatives in Massachusetts rather than to be continued to be locked up in the Manson Youth Institution, a place meant for JV convicts, not somebody who has not been convicted of anything.

The released footage has an electronic block over T.C.'s face, however, his identity is still plain based on the circumstances, the audio, and the portions of his head and body that remain visible throughout the video.

In addition to revealing T.C.'s identity, the video footage also depicts [then] 15 year-old T.C. being pat searched by a police officer who tells T.C. to open his legs then pats the length of T.C's legs and his buttocks area (over his clothes). While counsel does not view the pat search itself as unlawful, release of this video to the Turkish press, and therefore the public, is unlawful as an extreme invasion of T.C.'s privacy as a juvenile.

Massachusetts prohibits dissemination of records of court involved juveniles without a court order. See, Juvenile Court Standing Order 1-84. See also, Police Commissioner of Boston v. Municipal Court of the Dorchester District & another, 374 Mass. 640 (1978)(legislature intended for juveniles to have broad privacy rights.) Federal law similarly prohibits dissemination of records involving juveniles in delinquency proceedings. See, 18 U.S.C. § 5038. The same statute requires the Court to inform in writing any juvenile over which it has jurisdiction of his rights relating to his juvenile record.

Kelleher added:

Since release of the Boston Police body camera footage to the Turkish press, T.C.'s arrest and body search has been plastered over YouTube and various Turkish news channels. ...

Defense counsel first became aware of the video footage through T.C.'s father, who was exposed to the video images of his son in the Turkish press. The government subsequently alerted defense counsel to the fact that BPD had released the footage to the Turkish press in response to a FOIA request. After inquiry, there has been no response as to whether the U.S. Marshals' Office was alerted to the FOIA request for the BPD body camera footage prior to its release to the press.

Based on the continued violations of T.C.'s civil rights and his right to confidentiality, the government has demonstrated its inability to provide him with suitable detention and to protect his privacy rights.

On Sunday, assistant US Attorney Kristen Kearney responded, saying laws aimed at protecting the privacy of juveniles facing criminal charges don't apply in extradition hearings, because they are not potential junior felons here, but rather people awaiting transportation out of the country. Instead, what does apply is the Massachusetts public-records law, she wrote:

Massachusetts law defines "public records" broadly, and footage from police body worn cameras generally falls within that definition. M.G.L. c. 4 § 7(26). Further, when a public record contains both nonexempt and exempted information, agencies are required to segregate and redact the exempted information while producing the remainder of the record. Worcester Telegram & Gazette Corp. v. Chief of Police of Worcester, 58 Mass. App. Ct. 1, 4 (2003) ("'To the extent that only a portion of a public record may fall within an exemption to disclosure, the nonexempt 'segregable portion' of the record is subject to public access.'") ... That is exactly what BPD did here - it produced the footage from the officer's body worn camera, which is a presumptively public record, while segregating and redacting potentially exempted information - T.C.'s identity. This is similar to the approach the Court has taken in allowing motions to redact T.C.'s name and likeness from filings, while ruling that court proceedings are public. Because the Boston Police Department's release of police body worn camera footage is unrelated to T.C.'s detention, it does not amount to special circumstances. Nor has T.C. satisfied his burden to show he is not a risk of flight.

Also, she added, the kid turned 17 while in Connecticut, not 16, as his lawyer claimed.