Oklahoma city tries to charge farmer arrested at data center debate $17,000 for body cam footage of the incident — accused faces trespassing charge for going over allotted speaking time by 30 seconds at a public debate

The Oklahoma Office of the Attorney General commanded the City of Claremore to release body cam footage requested by farmer Darren Blanchard and his legal team without charging them $17,125.44. According to 404 Media, the city is asking for that amount so that it will release information on Blanchard’s arrest in April 2026 for speaking 30 seconds longer than the allowed time during a public consultation for a proposed data center in the area, as well as city records of previous disturbances in other public meetings. This led Kate Griffin, one of the farmer’s lawyers, to complain to the Oklahoma Attorney General, which looked at the situation.

Claremore justified the fees by saying that it would need to spend $16,540.44 for a legal review of requested records “to ensure that all information which must be withheld relating to members of the public and the City’s personnel is redacted in order to protect their privacy.” It’s also asking for $585 — equal to the 15-hour pay of a city clerk — to conduct the search of the documents.

“The City knows and is aware that any documents released to Mr. Blanchard and to those associated with him, regardless of the privacy implications of individuals named in such documents, are subject to wide distribution, including on social media,” Claremore said in its response to the Oklahoma AG. It also added, “Her persistence in maintaining an overly onerous request demonstrates that this dispute has nothing to do with transparency and likely has everything to do with causing excessive time/money expense to the City in order to generate public sympathy for her client and negative publicity for the City.”

However, Assistant Attorney General for Oklahoma Anthony Sykes said that this isn’t a valid reason to charge Blanchard thousands of dollars for this request. He said that the state’s law says that public bodies can only charge for the direct costs of searching and copying data when it comes to information requests. More than that, all the fees being charged must be disclosed publicly beforehand.

“The City has not posted a schedule of fees as required by the Open Records Act. Having failed to give the requisite notice of the fees charged for public access to City records, the City is foreclosed from charging search fees,” Sykes said. “If I were to conclude otherwise, there would be no incentive for public bodies to comply with the statute. They could simply ignore what the ORA requires and charge what they deem reasonable on a case-by-case basis.”

Another justification the city used for the egregious fees is the need to redact the body cam footage “to protect the privacy of the public and City personnel.” However, the assistant attorney general said that the incident happened at a public meeting with no reasonable expectation of privacy. Because of this, the city should hand over the requested data as soon as possible.

Blanchard is being charged with trespassing, a municipal crime with a penalty of just $200, making these charges very steep by comparison. Even though it might’ve been easier to plead guilty and pay the fine, the farmer is fighting the city on the grounds that it’s violating his right to free speech.

This isn’t the only arrest across the country that’s related to resistance from data center projects. A Kansas teacher was arrested in July 2026 for lightly clapping at a meeting in support of a speaker after they finished speaking, although the town eventually dropped the charges against them. In fact, as of August 2026, at least 37 people have been arrested for protesting against data centers.

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