Salt Lake City capitulated Friday and released a transcript of a 911 call about a fight between Tom Welch and his wife, Alma, that eventually led to his resignation as chief of the Salt Lake Organizing Committee.
Other than revealing a police dispatcher's decision to handle the call off the air because of Welch's prominence, the transcript gives little justification for sealing the tape in the first place, an attorney says.Attorney Jeff Hunt sought release of the tape on behalf of the Deseret News and several other Utah media after the July 9 incident involving the Welches became public.
"I think the city recognized what we have argued all along and that is that 911 tapes are public records," Hunt said. "It was just not proper for Welch to get that sealed. He should be treated like anybody else."
But apparently dispatchers on duty that night recognized they weren't dealing with just anyone.
A dispatcher contacted an officer over the air and asked him to call her at the dispatch center.
When the officer called, the dispatcher said, "They didn't want this going over the air I guess because this guy is a, some kind of prominent Olympic committee citizen or something." The dispatcher later reiterated the center "didn't want his name going out over the air."
Salt Lake police spokesman Lt. Phil Kirk told the Deseret News that dispatchers sometimes opt to not broadcast information over the air to "avoid interference" from people monitoring police scanners. Bomb scares and situations involving prominent people prompt such "judgment" calls, he said.
"It's not that it's treated differently in the way we handle the call, but it's being able to conduct an investigation without interference because of who he is," Kirk said. "It could hinder our ability to initially investigate a call if we don't have the opportunity to do that."
The 911 transcript reveals little about the fight between the couple. The Welch's 11-year-old son made the first 911 call and reported his parents were yelling at each other in the garage.
On the tape, the boy seems frightened and confused as he tells a dispatcher that, "my mom's screaming and something is happening."
"Are they fighting?" the dispatcher asks.
"Uh, yeah, they're fighting."
"They're fighting?" the dispatcher repeats.
"Yes. Please hurry," the boy said.
Later, the dispatcher asks the boy if he knows what his parents were fighting about.
"Uh, I think my dad was with another woman," he said.
"Oh, that's a bad thing for an 11-year-old kid to have to listen to, huh?" the dispatcher said.
"Yeah," the boy replied.
Dispatchers also received a second call from an unidentified person, presumably Alma Welch, who said, "I think I need some help" because of a fight.
Later, officers at the scene asked dispatchers to send a female crime lab officer to the Welches' residence to take photos.
"It makes you wonder why they fought so hard to keep it secret when it is the most accurate account of what was said during the call," Hunt said. "It's a much more accurate account than the police characterization of the call. It underscores why these tapes should be released."
Utah media won a precedent-setting ruling involving 911 tapes in Davis County in November 1995. Fox Television spent 18 months and $20,000 arguing such tapes are public records. Second District Judge Glen R. Dawson agreed and ordered the county to release the tape of a call made by Misty Marchant as she was shot to death by her estranged husband, Kenny Marchant. After hearing the tape, the station opted not to air the recording.
"The point was that it is a call for Fox to make, not the government to make," Hunt said.
Welch eventually pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of domestic abuse in the incident. He also gave up his position as head of the Salt Lake Olympic Committee, though he continues to work with the committee as a $10,000 a month consultant.
Salt Lake City's decision to release the 911 tape follows a ruling by 3rd District Judge Sheila McCleve Sept. 24 that neither the tape nor statements by the child to police deserved to be sealed.
The City Attorney's Office declined to release transcripts of interviews conducted by police investigators because of fear that doing so might discourage witnesses in such cases.
"The hesitancy to provide information is apparent in this case as with many domestic violence situations," states a letter signed by Frank Nakamura, assistant city attorney. "Consequently, even if an investigation is completed, public disclosure of witnesses statements made to police investigators would effectively discourage others from providing information."
Nakamura also said public disclosure of the child's interview might subject him to embarrassment and harm his relationship with his parents because the boy's comments about his parents were very candid and open.