Arkansas State Police and Bill Sadler

Summary

The court affirmed an order requiring the Arkansas State Police to provide unredacted accident reports, concluding that the Driver’s Privacy Protection Act does not prohibit disclosure under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. It reasoned that accident reports are not motor-vehicle records within the federal statute’s definition and that information concerning vehicular accidents is excluded from the definition of protected personal information. Justice Baker, joined by Justice Goodson, dissented and would have held that personal identifying information obtained from the Office of Motor Vehicles remains protected by the federal statute.