Hamilton County Sheriff Jim Hammond says there may be hope for recovering dash camera videos that disappeared in a "catastrophic data loss" in mid-January, but not until subsequent legal action is settled.
At least one attorney has asked a Hamilton County Criminal Court judge to order the sheriff's office to produce dash camera footage involving his client or to dismiss the criminal case should the videos not exist.
Arguments played out in court Monday morning as Chattanooga's police chief and the department's lead traffic investigator testified at a hearing about the alleged withholding of evidence in the case against the woman accused of hitting and killing a police officer.
Hamilton County District Attorney Neal Pinkston has challenged a defense attorney's accusation that Chattanooga police are withholding evidence in the case against a motorist accused of hitting and killing an officer and called the accusations "inflammatory" and "offensive."
A "catastrophic data loss" caused thousands of Hamilton County Sheriff's Office videos from dashboard cameras to disappear - and potentially could jeopardize criminal and civil cases.
Citing a potentially yearslong prosecution, a federal judge denied now-criminally indicted former Hamilton County deputy Daniel Wilkey's requests to put multiple civil suits on hold until the criminal case is resolved.
Collegedale, Tennessee, police pursued a vehicle with three occupants suspected of shoplifting a $59 pair of hair clippers after watching them walk out of the store, get into their vehicle and exit the parking lot.
The attorney for a motorist accused of hitting and killing a Chattanooga Police Department officer claims police are withholding evidence that includes body camera footage in which other officers are heard talking about the possibility of a second vehicle striking the Officer Nicholas Galinger.
A Chattanooga man pleaded no contest on Monday to voluntary manslaughter in a 1981 cold-case murder.
Barry Galinger still thinks about his son, Nicholas Galinger, every day.
