The surveillance video that shows the last minutes of Michael Saffioti's life is difficult for his mother to watch.
Rose Saffioti has been seeking answers since her 22-year-old son's death while in custody at the Snohomish County Jail in 2012.
"To know what he went through in his final moments, that's what haunts me," Saffioti said.
And yet, to not have the video would have been worse.
It has proven to be crucial evidence in her wrongful death lawsuit against the county. Michael Saffioti died of an allergic reaction after being fed breakfast in jail. He had turned himself in on a misdemeanor warrant for marijuana possession.
Rose Saffioti alleges jail guards knew about Michael's extreme allergies, did nothing to protect him and ignored his pleas for help.
The video is key evidence but when her attorneys first made a public records request for the video, county officials replied that it did not exist.
After several more requests, they filed a separate lawsuit under the state Public Records Act.
"Once we filed the lawsuit, the video was immediately located and it was turned over," said Cheryl Snow, Rose Saffioti's attorney.
KIRO 7 asked Jason Cummings, the chief civil deputy for the Snohomish County prosecuting attorney, if it was a deliberate attempt by the county to withhold evidence.
"I don't think there was a deliberate intent at all," Cummings said.
Cummings did not explain why the video was not provided earlier, but suggested the Snohomish County Sheriff's Office made a mistake.
It was a $95,000 mistake., which is what the county paid Rose Saffioti out of the sheriff's budget in a Public Records Act settlement for withholding the video.
That settlement was dwarfed by another public records payout in Snohomish County this year for $575,000., which went to an activist group denied records about development policies in the Snohomish river floodplain.
KIRO 7 requested information on more public records payouts.
King County recently paid The Seattle Times $41,560 for not adequately responding to a reporter's request.
In 2011, King County paid $1,062,299 to a retired businessman after refusing to release financing documents for what's now CenturyLink Field.
Since 2008, the City of Seattle has paid $1,003,650 in about two dozen public records settlements.
Reasons include human error and inadequate searches.
KIRO 7 also found more than a million dollars in public records payouts by the state in the last three-and-a-half years.
"When the government puts up its walls and tries to prevent you from finding out what happened, you have this method available to you where they're legally required to give you information," Snow said.
People who sue can seek a hundred dollars for each day records are withheld, plus legal fees.
"If an innocent mistake is made, it still requires payouts," said Cummings.
He said the law is sometimes used by people seeking easy money, or as a tool to harass public officials.
He acknowledges that was not the case for Rose Saffioti, who was denied crucial evidence about the death of her son.
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