Exempt Information and Records Regarding Officer Involved Shooting of Sayed Faisal in Cambridge

The following information and records concerning this officer involved shooting have been redacted or are wholly exempt from disclosure under the Massachusetts Public Records Law, G.L. c. 66, § 10; G.L. c. 4, § 7(26).

Certain limited personal information concerning witnesses and parties other than those who disclosed such information during inquest proceedings has been redacted as disclosure of this information would constitute an unwarranted invasion of privacy. G. L. c. 4, § 7(26)(c) (medical and privacy exemption). This information includes personal addresses, dates of birth, and phone numbers. The faces of civilians who appear in video footage obtained in the course of the investigation have also been blurred under exemption (c) to respect civilian and juveniles’ privacy, and the faces of voluntary witnesses who appear in video footage of interviews with investigators have also been blurred under this exemption to protect their privacy.

Cell phone records obtained in the course of the investigation pursuant to an administrative subpoena are further subject to the privacy exemption (c). G.L. c. 4, § 7(26)(c). Both federal and state law provide rigorous protection against the compelled production of the content of private electronic communications and other phone records due to the high expectation of privacy that citizens have in their conversations.  See 18 U.S.C. §§ 2701-2712 (providing broad protection for the compelled disclosure of the content of electronic communications); Carpenter v. United States, 138 S.Ct. 2206 (2018) (discussing protections afforded to the content of electronic communications). The public disclosure of an individual’s cell phone records would constitute a direct invasion of privacy. The contents of specific text messages relevant to the investigation, however, have been disclosed and are also referenced in police reports.

Our case file for this matter further includes the autopsy report produced by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner which are exempt from disclosure by this Office under exemption (a). See G. L. c. 38, § 2; 505 C.M.R. 1.00 (“Disclosure of Autopsy Reports”). Autopsy photos and fingerprints of the decedent taken during the autopsy are further exempt from disclosure under the medical and privacy exemption (c). G.L. c. 4, § 7(26).