The Oakland Police Department has declined to provide the public with access to police body camera videos that would show what happened on Oct. 18, the morning former Oakland Raiders running back Doug Martin died while in the custody of several OPD officers.

In response to a public records request by The Oaklandside, the department argued Tuesday that Martin’s death did not happen during a “critical incident,” and is therefore not subject to state laws governing the release of police body camera footage.

The decision was made by Acting Police Chief James Beere. Beere determined that, under the state Public Records Act’s public-interest balancing test exemption, and because the Community Police Review Agency, or CPRA, is investigating the incident, the video and audio recordings may be kept secret. According to the balancing test exemption, agencies may keep records secret if the public interest in doing so outweighs the public interest in disclosing them.

“Specifically, disclosure at this time would compromise privacy interests, and interfere with an ongoing investigation,” OPD wrote in response to our request.