Feb 9, 2016 3 min read

The state Office of Open Records is expected to decide in a few months if a video that a Pittsburgh attorney said shows a former California Borough police officer assaulting a man in a jail cell will be released.

Attorney Andrew Rothey, who formerly represented Adam Jeremy Logan, 29, of Richeyville, the man Rothey said was assaulted by the officer, said he took his argument to the Office of Open Records after California officials denied him access to the video.

Rothey said the incident occurred Nov. 9, 2013, after California police arrested Logan on a robbery charge in a purse-snatching incident.

Rothey said, according to accounts of the video that he has not seen, Logan was placed in a holding cell where he was handcuffed to a leather belt in front of him and his legs were shackled to a bench.

The attorney said an officer, identified as Justin Todd Shultz, 31, is seen in the video searching Logan before leaving the cell.

Shultz returns to the cell, Rothey said, and proceeds to “aggressively grab” Logan by the upper throat and chest area and slam him up against a wall.

“I have not seen the video,” Rothey said. “But based on accounts, it sounds like to me that it was completely unjustified. (Logan) is handcuffed and shackled to a bench. He poses no threat to the officer. It is a criminal assault against (Logan).”

Shultz was charged in 2014 with simple assault and official oppression stemming from the jail cell incident, and resigned from the police force a short time later. In May, Shultz pleaded guilty to simple assault. Washington County Judge John F. DiSalle sentenced him to one to 12 months in jail.

In 2014, Logan pleaded guilty to robbery. Washington County Judge Valarie Costanzo sentenced Logan to six to 23 months of probation.

Rothey said Logan does not plan to file a civil action against the borough as a result of the incident.

State Open Records Officer Erik Arneson, who attended Monday’s hearing in Downtown Pittsburgh, said the borough listed various issues for objecting to the release of the video, including that the Office of Open Records lacks jurisdiction to hear the case. The borough also contends the public safety exception in the right to know law applies because if the video is released blind spots in the jail cell could be identified.

Arneson said Monday’s proceeding represented the first one held outside Harrisburg since the inception of the office in January 2009.

“It was for the convenience of the parties,” Arneson said.

An appeal of a decision by the Office of Open Records would be heard in Washington County court, Arneson said.