Shiawassee County refuses to release personnel file on sheriff

FRIDAY, Feb. 17 — The Shiawasee County Board of Commissioners voted Thursday night to refuse to release the personnel file of Sheriff Douglas Chapman to City Pulse, which had requested it under the state Freedom of Information Act as part of an investigative look into how his drunk-driving arrest was handled.

The move was in response to an appeal of City Pulse's request that Shiawassee County Administrator Brian Boggs had denied.

City Pulse has published two stories on how Chapman's drunk-driving arrest in 2018 did not come to light last year during the process that led to his being named sheriff to complete the term of Brian BeGole, who was elected to the state House of Representatives in last fall's general election. The stories also looked at why the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office, which handled the case because of recusals in Shiawassee County, gave him an apparently lenient plea deal.

Chapman was a road patrol sergeant in the Shiawassee County's Sheriff's Office at the time he was arrested for drunk driving after being found asleep at the wheel of his car on a ramp leading to Interstate 69 around 1 a.m. on Oct. 9, 2018. A test showed the alcohol content level of his blood was enough to charge him as "superdrunk" under Michigan law. He also had two loaded pistols in the front seat of his car.

Instead, the Ingham County Prosecutor's Office agreed to letting him plead guilty to driving while impaired, a charge two levels below that of superdrunk. He was not charged at all for possessing weapons while intoxicated. He ended up receiving nine months' probation and a fine of $150.

The denial was decried by Robin Luce-Hermann, an attorney from Butzel Long who advises newspapers through the Michigan Press Association.

“It’s no wonder that there is declining trust in government, police and the criminal justice system when public bodies refuse to be transparent and accountable to taxpayers about the actions of their employees and how the public bodies deal with employee issues,” she said.

Police personnel files are exempt from disclosure, except when the public’s right to know outweighs the need to keep the file private. 

City Pulse sought the records on Jan. 12. The file was sought to shed light on what, if any, disciplinary actions were taken against Chapman after his 2018 drunk driving arrest and conviction. His conviction has been called a “sweetheart deal.” 

 Boggs has not responded to inquiries about what, if any impact, Chapman’s conviction may have had on the county's insurance rates at the time and now that he is the interim sheriff.

The records may also have revealed what, if any, time Chapman took for recovery from alcohol abuse in either attending meetings like Alcoholics Anonymous or for inpatient therapy. Chapman has repeatedly refused to answer questions about the arrest or his recovery. Instead, Chapman has consistently referred City Pulse to a video of him telling the story about the 2016 heroin overdose of his stepdaughter. That death drove him to work with students to prevent opioid addiction, abuse and death. 

“I am firmly in favor of denying this appeal I think it’s just trash and we don’t need to go along with that,” said Commissioner Cindy Garber video of the meeting shows.