Burr Ridge Cop's Arrest Video Kept Secret In Virginia

BURR RIDGE, IL – Burr Ridge's former deputy police chief can rest easy: It's likely the video of his drunken-driving arrest in Virginia will never see the light of day.

Despite numerous attempts since last spring, Patch has failed to obtain the footage.

On April 15, Ryan Husarik, now a sergeant, was arrested on a drunken driving charge in suburban Washington, where he was attending the FBI National Academy.

Virginia state police reported his blood-alcohol level at 2½ times the legal limit in Virginia, which is the same as in Illinois.

Husarik, a Lemont resident, was driving a police car when he was arrested, the village said.

In response to a public records request earlier this year, Burr Ridge released the Virginia police report, which it obtained through an internal investigation. But it declined to divulge the video.

Patch then asked Virginia state police for the video, but that agency also denied the request.

Last week, a Patch reporter in Virginia filed the same request for the video. Sometimes, residency makes a difference under Virginia's public records law.

The state police quickly denied the Virginia reporter. The agency said the video was part of a closed criminal investigative file and that it is exempt from the records law unless the requester meets a few exceptions.

The state police said they used their discretion to deny the request and that its decision applied to any documents in the case, including the police report.

Virginia's records law is more restrictive than the one in Illinois.

In response to Patch's inquiry, Megan Rhyne, executive director of the Virginia Coalition for Open Government, said the law does not bar the state police from releasing the video. But she said the agency has the discretion to withhold it.

"The only way to pry it loose after repeated denials that are unfortunately allowed under existing law is to challenge the denial in court (this is how all ... denials have to be enforced, as is the case in most states)," Rhyne said in an email Wednesday.

Among other things, the video may have shown whether Husarik used his status as a police officer to attempt to convince Virginia authorities to let him go.

Burr Ridge's records show that the village received the footage of Husarik's arrest.

In withholding the video, the village cited an exemption under the state's open records law for documents relating to a public body's adjudication of an employee's discipline. If Husarik had been arrested in Illinois, that video would likely have been subject to the state's records law, known as the Freedom of Information Act.

After his arrest, Husarik, who made $150,000 a year at the time, was given 40 days of unpaid leave, lasting until July 26.

He was later demoted to sergeant.