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City Won't Release Info On Carter DNC Incident

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Sep 16, 2008 5:56 pm US/Mountain

City Won't Release Info On Carter DNC Incident

Written By Brian Maass
DENVER (CBS4) ― Denver law enforcement authorities are refusing to release any information related to a DUI crash that came close to the motorcade of Former President Jimmy Carter during the Democratic National Convention.

A CBS4 investigation previously reported that a suspected DUI driver, Amber Voiles, came close to colliding with the former President's motorcade on the night of Aug. 26. Carter had appeared at the convention the previous day. The former president and his wife, Rosalynn, were being driven through downtown Denver and were stopped at a red light when the 31-year-old Voiles apparently hit a car in front of Carter's motorcade. The incident occurred in the 1200 block of 17th Street at about 10:30 p.m.

Voiles was a production assistant working on a documentary about Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper and the convention. She was working for the mayor's cousin, George Hickenlooper, the filmmaker behind the documentary. Voiles is not a city employee and was not driving a city vehicle, according to aides to Mayor Hickenlooper.

An officer assigned to Carter's motorcade chased and caught Voiles when she attempted to flee in her 2007 Durango.

She faces charges of driving under the influence, hit-and-run and failing to report an accident.

CBS4 filed an Open Records Request with Denver's Manager of Safety's Office. The television station requested copies of the accident report, offense report, citation, narrative of the DUI investigation, along with supplemental reports and witness statements.

But on Tuesday afternoon the city records coordinator, Mary Dulacki, denied the request saying no information will be released, "Because your request is contrary to the public interest."

Noting that the case is currently being prosecuted, the records coordinator wrote, "There is a strong interest in both the successful prosecution of criminal matters and the protection of an individual's right to a fair and impartial trial. Disclosure of the information you requested at this time could jeopardize one or both of those interests."

Voiles is scheduled to appear in court Sept 26.

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