Saturday, March 19, 2016

Another FOIL Request to Cattaraugus County


The previous post (February 18, 2016) reported on the results of my FOIL request to Cattaraugus County for records on the death of Tim Nye. Mr. Nye was one of two individuals whose deaths, I was told, happened under suspicious circumstances in Great Valley, New York, within a year or so of my brother’s suspicious truck fire. In blatant violation of both the spirit and the letter of the New York State FOIA law, Cattaraugus County refused to provide any records, including the police investigation report, even in a redacted form. To my appeal of their denial of the records, Cattaraugus County sent two pages, consisting of a copy of the “Incident Maintenance” sheet and of the very brief report by the officer who discovered Nye’s body with a gun lying close by, but still denied me access to the police investigation report.

This post reports on the results of my FOIL request to Cattaraugus County for records on the death of Dale Tarapacki, a twenty-seven year old pharmacist whose body was found in his burned-out truck in Great Valley.

Since my initial FOIL request on Tim Nye met with an absolute refusal, it came as no real surprise that Cattaraugus County also denied me all records on Dale Tarapacki’s death. The explanation for the denial was essentially the same as that for the Nye records: “Pursuant to Public Officers Law [section] 87 (2) (a) the records requested are compiled for law enforcement purposes and are inter-agency materials.” However, as mentioned in my letter of appeal, the New York State courts have made it clear that “blanket exemptions for particular types of documents are inimical to FOIL’s policy of open government” and that “FOIL imposes a broad duty on government to make its records available to the public.”

As with my appeal in the Nye case, I soon received a response from Records Appeals Officer John Searles, this time with a copy of the fire investigator’s report on Dale Tarapacki’s death. But, once again, he denied access to the other records, which he added “consist of 11 pages of intra-agency investigation reports of the Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office.” As with the response to my appeal on the Nye records, I replied to Mr. Searles in a letter of February 10, 2016, stating that I considered his position unwarranted and in violation of the New York State FOIA law.

The fire investigator’s report provides information about the condition of Dale Tarapacki’s truck, which was discovered with his body inside, but it seems to raise more questions than it answers. (Copies of the fire investigator’s report, my FOIL request, my letter of appeal, and Mr. Searles’ response appear at the end of this post.) Without the police investigation report, it is impossible to understand what could have happened to bring that young man’s life to such an unfortunate end.

Having no basis myself for interpreting the analysis found on the second page of the fire investigator’s report, I asked an experienced car mechanic to look it over and give me his opinion. He certainly had questions about the explanation provided for Dale Tarapacki’s truck fire. Here are some major points of concern raised by the mechanic: (1) It is hard for a drive shaft to puncture the fuel line. The shaft in Tarapacki’s truck may have had a bad joint, but that is not a common occurrence. (2) A broken drive shaft makes a great deal of noise; Tarapacki thus would have been very aware of a major problem with the truck. (3) Gas lines are very well protected. (4) The spinning wheel bearings would have taken some time to blow out of the housing, and Tarapacki would have had the opportunity to get out of the truck.

At the end of the fire investigator’s report, the determination is made by the Sheriff’s Office that the truck fire was accidental. However, the broken drive shaft seems very puzzling. It simply raises too many questions that need to be answered. And Tarapacki himself seems to have had plenty of time to get out. So why was he found dead inside his truck?

To add to the puzzle of this case, a reliable source informed me that Dale Tarapacki’s death was ruled a suicide. But since I have been denied access to the police investigation report, it is impossible for me to verify what the final ruling was and on what grounds it was made.