Police officers’ body-worn camera recordings of the Nov. 23 killing of 15-year-old Stavian Rodriguez won't be released “at this time,” an attorney for the city of Oklahoma City says in a letter to an attorney for the boy’s mother.
Attorney Rand Eddy filed a lawsuit Feb. 2 seeking release of the video on behalf of Cameo Holland. In a letter to the city attorney’s office the previous Friday, Eddy said more than six weeks had passed without a response to his initial request.
Rodriguez was shot to death by police responding to a report of an attempted armed robbery at a south Oklahoma City gas station.
Runoffs for two city council seats representing Oklahoma City's far western border are set for April 6. A candidate needed 50% plus one to win outright in Tuesday's primaries, but no hopeful in Ward 1 or Ward 3 exceeded 30%.
Here are five takeaways from Tuesday night's results:
A significant evening for women
In southwest Oklahoma City's Ward 3, Jessica Martinez-Brooks and Barbara Young advanced to the runoff. That means a third woman will join the nine-member council, marking the first time three women have served together in 20 years, said City Clerk Frances Kersey. For most of the past decade, there was just one woman on the council. According to records dating to 1927, Ward 3 has never been represented by a woman.
Amy Simpson was sworn in Friday as the city of Oklahoma City's new city clerk. Simpson is the 17th city clerk since 1890 and the second woman, succeeding Frances Kersey. Kersey is retiring after more than 18 years in the post and 39 years with the city, all in the clerk's office. Simpson, 53, has been the city's purchasing agent for the past 10 years. Her swearing-in was moved up from Monday in response to the winter storm.
Sales tax retreats
Oklahoma City's sales tax revenue for the most recent month was off 4.6% compared to this time last year and below the city budget office's projection of a 2% decline. Overall, sales tax collections are down 4.1% through the first eight months of the fiscal year, a better
Todd Stone won a second term Tuesday on the Oklahoma City Council, taking 64.3% of the vote in a three-way race to represent the southeast side.
Runoffs were set for the open seats in Wards 1 and 3 on Oklahoma City's western border after no candidate won more than 30% in Tuesday's primaries.
With all 37 precincts reporting in Ward 4, Stone had 1,075 votes. Sam Wargin Grimaldo had 430 and Larry Hopper had 167.
Stone, a small business owner, has built support through quiet community service, coaching youth sports and helping organize a project to build a bridge across a creek to give schoolchildren a safe way to reach Bodine Elementary School.
He succeeded longtime Ward 4 Councilman Pete White in 2017, in his