As noted in this space Sept. 22, no matter what the circumstances were surrounding the death of UNC-Chapel Hill student Courtland Smith, it was a tragic occurrence. Smith was shot by Archdale police along Interstate 85 Randolph County just before 5 a.m. on Aug. 23. Since then, Archdale police have jealously guarded documentary information about the case, and County Superior Court Judge V. Bradford Long has helped curtail public access to it.

Officers had conducted a traffic stop “regarding a subject who called for police assistance and indicated he was suicidal,” according to an Archdale police news release. At first, the citizens of North Carolina were denied access to audio recordings of the incident as Randolph sealed them, then unsealed them after Guilford Metro 911, which Smith also had called, released an audio recording that indicated Smith was driving drunk, suicidal and armed with a 9 mm pistol. Smith’s family has contended Smith was not armed when he was shot four times.

Earlier this week, Long denied a request by several media outlets, including The High Point Enterprise, to view dashboard videotapes of the incident from two Archdale police cars that he said “portray the interaction between Mr. Smith and the officers immediately prior to the shooting and actions taken by the officers after the shooting.” Long ruled that releasing the video would hinder the case and jeopardize the right of potential defendants to receive a fair trial.

A plethora of questions by the media and public has arisen since the shooting, and the judge’s refusal to release the videos does little to serve the public. Long’s ruling should have broadened public access rather than further limit it.