Feb 11, 2025 By Zach Petroff 4 min read

Redstone Township officials have requested a 30-day legal review in response to a Right-To-Know (RTK) request to glean more information about an officer-involved shooting.

The request submitted on behalf of the Herald-Standard asked for records of any paid or unpaid leave for officers in the township’s police department, and the name of all of the officers, their job titles, salary, length of service and copies of their employment contracts.

The open records request was made after several attempts to discern whether the officer who fatally shot 27-year-old Christopher Hackney was still actively responding to calls, or if the officer had been placed on leave while state police investigate what occurred.

Hackney was shot after police were called to 132 Lyndale Road in Grindstone to conduct a wellness check on Jan. 28. Two weeks later, details about what precipitated the shooting have yet to be released.

The day after Hackney was shot, Redstone Township Supervisor George Matis and township police Chief Troy Rice declined to comment beyond saying the shooting is under investigation.

On Jan. 31, a reporter stopped at the police station, where Rice declined to answer whether the officer involved was placed on administrative leave, a common practice among police in similar circumstances. The Herald-Standard’s open records request was filed later that day.

Matis, who serves as the township’s RTK officer, provided a link to the township’s website to answer the portion of the request for the names and titles of the officers. As to all other facets of the request, Matis said the township would need 30 days for the solicitor to review it.

Melissa Melewsky, media law attorney for the Pennsylvania NewsMedia Association, said that while RTK requests are protected under the law, public agencies are allowed a level of discretion in what type of information can be released.

“The Right-To-Know Law does not impose stringent public access requirements…There are broad exceptions in the Right-to-Know Law that allow police agencies to withhold information related to investigation, even investigations that have been long closed,” Melewsky said.

Just because there is not a law that requires officials to divulge information, she noted, that does not mean public officials should be excused from transparency.

“Even if it does not require them to provide information, it may be in the public interest to do so, and the law does not prohibit them from doing so. I think there’s a difference between what must be provided and what should be provided,” Melewsky said.

Last week, following an officer-involved shooting in Pittsburgh that resulted in one death, police released details about the incident within hours, including the confirmation that the involved officer was placed on administrative leave. When discussing the varying policies between different agencies regarding information disclosure, Melewsky emphasized that it ultimately comes down to a matter of judgment.

“It comes down to a matter of who is running an agency and how transparent they want to be with the public they serve. It’s that simple,” she said. “There’s a wide amount of discretion under Pennsylvania state law and some police agencies have chosen to be more transparent than others. There’s no other reason than that.”

Melesky made mention that in certain counties, like Philadelphia, policies have been put into place that require law enforcement to provide information to the public when officers are involved in a shooting.

Unfettered access to information may not always be in the best interest of the public; however, law enforcement officials have an obligation to keep a community updated during an investigation, she said.

And, she said, silence leads to supposition.

“I can guarantee you what’s circulating out in the community is likely filled with misinformation. And the only way to combat misinformation and misunderstanding is to combat it with actual facts. And that has to come from the people who are gathering the information, and in this case, it’s law enforcement,” Melewsky said.