Media Groups Sue Highway Patrol Over Redacted Crash Reports

Missouri news groups have sued the Highway Patrol over redacted crash reports, which affects records on wrecks on I-70 and U.S. 40 near Rocheport.

Two Missouri news trade groups and two media companies say the patrol is breaking the state’s open records law by blacking out names and other details.

Who sued and what they want

The plaintiffs are the Missouri Broadcasters Association, the Missouri Press Association, Gray Media and Roxie Murphy, managing editor of Warden Publishing Company, according to the Missouri Independent, which ran a story first published by KOMU 8 News. The two associations represent hundreds of local newsrooms. Gray Media owns several television stations in Missouri, and Warden Publishing owns several local newspapers, the story says.

KOMU reported that the petition was filed on a Friday, and its Oct. 19 story puts that at Oct. 16. A second KOMU report says the suit asks a Cole County judge to order the patrol to restore access to unredacted crash reports.

The petition also asks for between $1,000 and $5,000 for each plaintiff and for the plaintiffs’ attorneys’ fees, the Independent reported.

What the petition says

The petition says that since 2024 the patrol has redacted names, addresses, phone numbers and other identifying information in crash reports it hands over in response to Missouri Sunshine Law requests. It lists several 2026 cases in which news outlets asked for unredacted reports and say they were turned down, the Independent reported.

Before the change, the patrol posted crash reports with that information and said on its website that everything in them was an open record, according to a statement from the two associations.

The patrol’s side

The patrol began removing personal information from its online crash reports on Nov. 1, 2024. It said at the time that scammers were using victims’ names to contact them and their families. Capt. Scott White told the Jefferson City News Tribune that the patrol had kept hearing of such scams after an earlier warning. The patrol also cited the federal Driver’s Privacy Protection Act in a 2024 news release, KOMU reported.

Dan Curry, an attorney for the Missouri Press Association, told the News Tribune in 2024 that the federal law covers state driver records, not law enforcement records. White told the paper that reporting is not among the uses the patrol accepts under that law.

On the lawsuit, the patrol told KOMU: “We are aware of the lawsuit you are referring to. Unfortunately, we do not comment on pending litigation.”

What it means near Rocheport

Anyone who wants to know who was involved in a wreck on I-70, U.S. 40 or a county road around Rocheport now has a harder time finding out. In 2024 the patrol said online crash reports would carry no names, and that people would have to request a report instead. It costs $5 per report, and the News Tribune reported that names could still be redacted from the copy.

Chad Mahoney, president and CEO of the Missouri Broadcasters Association, told KOMU that stations hear from viewers asking why crashes are no longer covered the way they used to be. The stations can’t confirm names without the reports, he said. KOMU also reported that the Columbia Police Department said in August that it would stop naming fatal crash victims, citing the patrol’s policy.

Mahoney told KOMU he hopes a ruling for the plaintiffs would lead other agencies to drop their redactions too.

The lawsuit has not been decided. We have not seen the petition itself, and we will update this story when the court rules or the patrol files its response. For a look at the roads themselves, see our reports on the Route J interchange on I-70 and on deer crashes along I-70 and U.S. 40.