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Georgia Firefighter Accused Of Sharing Video Of Fatal Accident Victim
GRIFFIN, Ga. - A Georgia county is looking into whether any rules were violated after a firefighter took graphic cell phone video of a fatal crash that was shared with other firefighters, patrons at a bar and was later received by the father of the woman who died.
Jeff Kempson tells Atlanta station WAGA-TV he doesn't understand why a firefighter would have taken the video of his daughter, 23-year-old Dayna Kempson-Schacht. She died July 17 when her car crashed into trees.
The Spalding County Sheriff's office says a firefighter took the video on his personal cell phone and shared it with other firefighters. An unknown firefighter later took the video to a bar and texted it to other patrons. From there, the video spread.
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Information from: WAGA-TV, http://www.wagatv.com/index.shtml
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Jeff Kempson tells Atlanta station WAGA-TV he doesn't understand why a firefighter would have taken the video of his daughter, 23-year-old Dayna Kempson-Schacht. She died July 17 when her car crashed into trees.
The Spalding County Sheriff's office says a firefighter took the video on his personal cell phone and shared it with other firefighters. An unknown firefighter later took the video to a bar and texted it to other patrons. From there, the video spread.
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Information from: WAGA-TV, http://www.wagatv.com/index.shtml
Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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Here we go again.
Who doesn't believe that this firefighter should be fired for such a disgusting, tasteless and unprofessional act?
You still want to believe that it is his RIGHT to do something like that?
Does the public need another reason to distrust us?
Frickin' cell phones...
Check that; frickin' idiots using cell phones.
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Permalink Reply by Chris on
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Why did he have time to take a video? Shouldn't he be working at the scene?
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Permalink Reply by Fabulous Heather Days of Summer on
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sick
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Permalink Reply by FETC on
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Come on fellas. Lay off the "who has time crap". I had a double fatal the other night. 15-20 minutes of rapid extrication and then hours of scene preservation, accident reconstruction while you await ME and body recovery, vehicle removal, etc. There is alot of standing around and then boredom turns into hey let me video or snap a pic from my cellphone.
This has been debated before. Almost two years ago, I said on FFN if you don't have a social media policy for your department's members, your chief will wish he did in the near future. This guy made poor choice, but I bet the department doesn't have a policy on the matter either. Everything we do while in the act of duty, is or should be property of the fire department. That includes, cell phone pictures and video. Shoot a pic "for training purposes" just an excuse in my opinion, then show other firefighters, "hey can I get a copy of that? Sure, next thing you know it has passed the speed of sound to others outside of the department.... and this stuff ALWAYS finds it way back to loved one's.
Should he be fired? Yes.... but that depends if the department has any PROFESSIONAL STANDARDS, rules, policies or procedures in place to tell the subordinates what is acceptable.
This is bigger than just one dumb fireman. The department may have dropped the ball as well.
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Permalink Reply by kirk elliott on
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unprofessional
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Permalink Reply by Anthony McNulty on
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Anybody who works in emergency services in any kind of medical capacity should be familiar with HIPAA regulations. These same regs should be applied to any and all emergency workers.
This act was tasteless and shoud be highly illegal. Art put it best. The last thing the fire service needs is another reason for the public to mistrust those that are in place to help.
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It has been suggested on the news shows that the firefighter didn't do anything "illegal".
Well, at least he won't be going to jail.
However; that won't preclude the family of the deceased from SUING him for mental anguish, pain and suffering.
Get the pocket book out. This one should go at least a six.
How does someone that ignorant even get in the door?
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Permalink Reply by Phoenix on
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NEEDS TO BE FIRED.
As far as no broken laws...If the video identifies the person (you can see her face) this violates HIPPA and he can be charged with this. If he has an EMS provider license, it should be revoked also.
This is the type of things that give ALL fire/EMS personel a Black eye and bad rep.
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Permalink Reply by Oldman on
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A person who expires on scene is no longer a patient, and as such is probably not subject to HIPPA. A body becomes part of a crime scene, and images taken on public right of way are legal.
Regardless, there most likely will be very expensive civil repercussions against the firefighter, and will probably include the department as well.
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Permalink Reply by Capkurt on
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Not thinking very clearly to use his own cell ohone for this. We have used Dept. phones/camera's in the past to record mechanism of injury for the ER Docs but not for personal use. The pics are deleted after the Docs see them. Gotta agree with Oldman about a HIPPA violation. Once they are dead they are not covered by HIPPA so there isn't a violation of law but a violation of common sense.
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