University of Iowa pro-Palestinian protester sues police for camera footage

IOWA CITY — An Iowa City man with an accumulating history of political protests is suing the University of Iowa, its police and a public records officer for a lack of what he characterized as legally-required transparency around his December police encounter.

“As of the date of this filing,” according to the lawsuit filed May 23 in Johnson County District Court, “defendants have refused to produce the body camera related to the Dec. 9, 2023 arrest of Oliver Weilein, or the surveillance video from Kinnick Stadium on Dec. 9, 2023 showing Oliver Weilein.”

Weilein, 30 — who was among dozens charged with rioting at former President Donald Trump’s inauguration in 2017 in Washington, D.C. — in December 2023 joined a group of pro-Palestinian protesters at Kinnick Stadium during UI President Barbara Wilson’s holiday party, which was happening inside.

UI police arrested and charged nine of the Dec. 9 protesters who chained themselves to Kinnick Stadium’s entrance doors and used metal bolts to lock exits, keeping UI staff from the function.

Those arrested refused to leave and in some cases refused to put their hands behind their back upon notification of their arrest, according to criminal complaints. Some yelled “abusive language to the police and the public personnel while they attempted to gain entry to the building for a lawful assembly.”

But Weilein, according to police records and his own telling in the suit, wasn’t among those immediately arrested at Kinnick.

“On Dec. 9, 2023, Mr. Weilein visited Kinnick Stadium, where he rode the elevator to the second floor,” according to his lawsuit. “Mr. Weilein was asked to leave because a private event was taking place. Mr. Weilein complied with that request and left the stadium.”

And yet, Weilein reported, a pair of UI police officers arrested him later that day and released him without charges “prior to completing the booking process.”

No record of that arrest — or aborted arrest — has been filed in the state’s electronic court database. UI officials did provide The Gazette with an incident report involving Weilein and the Dec. 9 protest.

According to that report, both Weilein and a 74-year-old Iowa City man were accused of trespassing around 4:30 p.m. that day. The report does indicate an “adult arrest” occurred — even though formal charges were not filed against either man.

The version of the report provided to The Gazette included two pages of redactions.

And when Weilein sought records and video evidence of his arrest, he said he was either put off or denied.

Weilein’s attorney in April asked for body camera and video surveillance footage of the arrest — citing a possible case number. UI police in response said the body camera footage and police reports were “confidential police investigative records,” and the surveillance video is not subject to disclosure, the lawsuit asserted.

After weeks of pushing, Weilein reported receiving a seven-page “incident report” from the encounter. But his lawsuit alleges he remains without the body camera and video surveillance footage.

“The records requested by (Weilein) are not protected from disclosure by Iowa Code 22.7(5), which states that ‘the date, time, specific location, and immediate facts and circumstances surrounding a crime or incident shall not be kept confidential under this section, except in those unusual circumstances where disclosure would plainly and seriously jeopardize an investigation or pose a clear and present danger to the safety of an individual’,” according to the lawsuit.

The nine pro-Palestinian protesters who were arrested in December for chaining themselves to Kinnick Stadium struck a plea deal in April settling their respective cases with fines imposed.

Vanessa Miller covers higher education for The Gazette.

Comments: (319) 339-3158; vanessa.miller@thegazette.com