The body camera footage of the arrest of Cullen shamy on May 10 at 3:12am
Dear East Brunswick Police Department,
Please accept this electronic request for public records made under OPRA and the common law right of access. I am not required to fill out an official form or use a particular software platform to submit my request per NJSA 47:1A-5(f), which states that an email from a requestor including all of the information required on the adopted form shall suffice in place of a completed form as a valid government record request.
I HAVE NOT been convicted of any indictable offense under the laws of New Jersey, any other state, or the United States.
I WILL NOT use the requested government records for a commercial purpose.
I AM NOT seeking records in connection with a legal proceeding.
Records requested: The body camera footage of the arrest of Cullen shamy on May 10 at 3:12am
My preferred delivery method for response(s) to this request is by E-mail as attachments. Please confirm you have received this request. If you are not the custodian of records, please forward my request to that person and provide their email address to me for future reference.
Yours faithfully,
Aedan Samson Huggins
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East Brunswick Township Public Records
Your record request #26-683 has been submitted successfully.
Thank you for submitting your Open Public Records Act (OPRA)
request!
You can expect to receive a response to your request for access
to government records within seven (7) business days after the
records custodian receives the request. Requests for a
“commercial purpose” have a fourteen (14) business day response
timeframe.
If the record you requested is not currently available or is in
storage, we will advise you when it can be made available and
provide the estimated cost of reproduction.
Thank you,
Records Custodian
Township of East Brunswick
The due date for your request may be later than usual because
the office is closed on:
• May 25: Memorial Day
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East Brunswick Township Public Records
Record request #26-683 has been closed. The closure reason
supplied was:
Greetings,
This is in response to your Open Public Records Act (OPRA)
request for access to East Brunswick Police Department Records.
Your OPRA request sought access to the following record(s):
1. The body camera footage of the arrest of Cullen shamy on May
10 at 3:12am
Response:
Although generally, body worn camera (“BWC”) footage does not
qualify as a “criminal investigatory record” exempt from
disclosure under OPRA (see Jersey Media Grp., Inc. v. Twp. Of
Lyndhurst, 229 N.J. 541, 565 (2017)), there are certain
statutory exceptions that render the requested BWC record(s)
exempt from disclosure. See N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5(l), et seq.
Specifically, N.J.S.A. 40A:13-118.5, the Body Worn Camera Law
(“BWCL”), provides, in pertinent part:
• [n]otwithstanding that a criminal investigatory record does
not constitute a government record under section 1 of
P.L.1995, c. 23 (C.47:1A-1.1), only the following body worn
camera recordings shall be exempt from public inspection:
[…] body worn camera recordings subject to a minimum
three-year retention period solely and exclusively pursuant
to subparagraph (a), (b), (c), or (d) of paragraph (2) of
subsection j. of this section. N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5(l)(3).
Analysis of recent case law concerning the interaction between
OPRA and the BWCL’s inspection provision cited above was
conducted by the courts in Fuster v. Township of Chatham, 477
N.J. Super. 477 (2025), and in Borough of Spotswood, et al. v.
Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, et al., A-3457-23 (App.
Div. 2026).Although the substance of these court cases
addressed other specific challenges, both courts acknowledged
the statutory exemptions in N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5(l)(1)-(4),
which refers to multiple provisions of N.J.S.A.
40A:14-118.5(j)(1)-(3), which provide specific situations when
the recording can be exempt from release.
As you are no doubt aware, the East Brunswick Police Department
is an agency that prosecutes criminal matters and maintains
certain evidence as a part of its prosecutorial file. These BWC
recordings are subject to the specific retention required under
N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5j(2)(a) and (c) because the subject
recordings have evidentiary value. Accordingly, pursuant to
N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5(I), the requested records are currently
exempt from disclosure as such records are within the required
retention period.
The East Brunswick Police Department reserves the right to
raise any other grounds in support of this response. The
failure of the East Brunswick Police Department to assert any
exception, exemption, or privilege does not act as a waiver of
any ground for denial.
This OPRA request is now deemed answered and closed.
Regards,
Records Custodian
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