Video has emerged of a heated exchange between Miami-Dade County firefighters and a civilian videographer at an incident scene.
The video was posted to YouTube Thursday (though gives no indication of when it was actually filmed) by the videographer involved,"MiamiImpulse.”
As reported by Statter911, a firefighter asks the videographer to not tape the scene, saying it’s “personal information.”
A fire captain on the scene then tells the man to turn around and walk away, and requests police attend the scene for a “combative bystander.”
The fire captain insists the man recording the scene needs to be more than 300 feet away from the medical helicopter, which is preparing to take off.
Curt Verone, in his law blog, wrote that the videographer’s First Amendment rights may have been violated. He cautioned that everyone, not just members of a media organization, have a right to cover the news.
Verone wrote that emergency responders do have the right to set clear safety work zones, but that those must apply to everyone and not just photographers.