Randy Travis Files Federal Lawsuit to Block Release of 2012 DWI Arrest Video
Randy Travis has filed another lawsuit to attempt to block the release of video footage of his 2012 DWI arrest. This new suit takes the issue to a federal court level.
According to Austin, Texas' American-Statesman, Travis and his legal counsel filed a lawsuit in Austin federal court on Sunday (Sept. 10), asking U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks to forbid the release of the arrest video. Travis' lawyers are arguing that releasing the video would violate federal medical privacy and disability laws.
The video footage involved in this ruling is police dashcam footage from Travis’ Aug. 7, 2012, arrest. He was arrested around midnight, following a one-vehicle crash near Tioga, Texas, and was subsequently charged with driving while intoxicated, obstruction and retaliation, after allegedly threatening an officer.
Randy Travis Through the Years
In January of 2013, Travis pleaded guilty to DWI and received two years probation, a $2,000 fine and a 180-day suspended jail sentence; the obstruction and retaliation charges were dropped. This incident was one of a number that preceded Travis’ life-threatening stroke in 2013.
A number of media outlets made Public Information Act requests for the footage from Travis’ 2012 arrest. In May of 2013, Travis requested that all information pertaining to his arrest — including the dashcam video, which would be redacted to cut out images of Travis, who was naked at the time of his arrest, below the waist — be kept private.
Most recently, in June, the Texas Supreme Court ruled that it would not block the release of video footage, declining Travis' appeal of a prior ruling that said the video should be made public and upholding a 2016 ruling from a three-judge panel of the Texas Court of Appeals, Third District.
Travis continues to make progress in his recovery; his wife, Mary Davis, has called his progress a series of “giant baby steps.”
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