Former Lubbock police officer challenges KCBD-TV reports, says Lubbock station defamed him

A former police officer in Lubbock has sued a local TV station, claiming that KCBD-TV falsely suggested he was connected to two alleged sexual assaults.

The news reports by KCBD Channel 11, an NBC affiliate, were based on documents from a Texas Rangers investigation into officer Darrin Opaitz, and should not have been released or published, the defamation lawsuit says. Opaitz was put on administrative leave but was never charged with a crime.

“KCBD negligently, and with conscious disregard of the rights the Texas Constitution bestows upon its citizens,” defamed Opaitz in stories it published and broadcast, the petition filed in the 237^th District Court in Lubbock says.

From the 25-page complaint:

On May 10, 2009, KCBD published an entry … titled ‘Public records provide no update on suspended officer.’ … KCBD makes a false representation in their ‘sensational’ title by referring to Opaitz as a ‘suspended’ police officer, which gives readers the impression that the Lubbock Police Department suspended Opaitz or that Opaitz was being disciplined. That is inherently false.

The suit claims that by reporting that the Texas Rangers would not confirm or deny a criminal investigation was taking place KCBD implied that Opaitz had done something wrong. The station obtained the investigation report, then published it on its web site, and implied Opaitz was guilty of a crime in its story off the report, the complaint alleges.

The story links have been removed from the KCBD website.

The station began reporting the story in April 2009, when Opaitz had already been on administrative leave for six weeks. In May, a reporter filed a public information request with the Texas Department of Public Safety seeking any reports in which Opaitz was a suspect, arrestee or person of interest. The request yielded nothing.

In June, according to the lawsuit, a lawyer with the department emailed a two-page document that resulted in the naming of Opaitz in a sexual assault case.

The complaint summarizes:

Crimes, prosecutions and related judicial proceedings are matters of legitimate public concern as a matter of law. This was not a crime, prosecution or related judicial proceeding – this was merely an accusation. …

Opaitz’ constitutional right to privacy trumps Channel 11′s claims to report news, as the information [KCBD] sought to be made public was not public information and was published in an untrue and libelous context where sensationalism and not journalism was the purpose.

Opaitz, whose state law enforcement records shows no disciplinary action, left the Lubbock Police Department in January 2010 after serving 17 years, his entire Texas law enforcement career.

Opaitz seeks a jury trial and up to $16 million in damages. He is represented by Lamar Treadwell II, a New Mexico-based lawyer. The defendants are represented by Lubbock attorney Bob Craig. Both declined to comment.

In a petition to depose filed last year, Treadwell hinted of pending legal action. Among those depositions requested was that of former Lubbock city council member John Leonard, whom Treadwell accused of providing confidential information to KCBD.

***

Read more at Texas Watchdog-Recent Stories