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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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.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 This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.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 Patti Walz on
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Fire the guy.
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Permalink Reply by CAFR214 on
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I hear alot of backlashing going on about firing the guy for this but before any of us should past judgement about him we should all take a long look at ourselves and think about anything you have done since starting at the fire ems career that was a total and utter mistake on your part he did no different then if a bystander was there and posted it up on youtube but since he's a firefighter we should nail him to a cross and make a example of him? I agree what he did was wrong and he should make a fromal in person telvised apology to the family and maybe be assigned to community servise about teaching kids safe driving and so on.
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Permalink Reply by Foley&son on
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my heart goes out to her family. from this point forward do not take video of any scene!
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Permalink Reply by robert f newkirk on
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HIPPA dose not end when some one deads look at HIPPA again
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I can tell you that I may be human but I would never even think of making a video and sharing it. If there was one thing that was stressed in all of my classes is confidential, confidential, confidential. Do not take pictures, leave that for the red and white hats, make your observations and report them to the red and white hats.
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your right If i take photos of a person or a body in a mva it is for trianning Only pics like that are gaving to the police or the dept Iam shotting for allso the cheif of the dept have the right to look over my pics at anytime day or night. pic that are for the news are look over very carefull to make shore know body part can be found in the pics, this kids was ignorant. dept. can do photos for trianning hope thats all
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Permalink Reply by John on
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Does this not violate the HIPPA law? Your not suppose to give information identifying a pt or victim that we come across. You would think video and pictures would be a violation of that as well.
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Permalink Reply by Chuck Leiser on
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As an Officer it is my responsibility to protect my personnel and the department on all emergency scenes, and that means protect them from stupid acts and this was clearly a stupid act. I feel Personal cell phones are a problem in the fire service, not only on emergencies but also throughout the day. Nothing bugs me more than seeing personnel do a rig check with the phone glued to their ear. An easy solution to this problem is check your phone in with the officer in the morning and pick it up when you leave. the last time I looked every firehouse I have ever been in has a phone.
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Permalink Reply by Jon on
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My volly department will take pictures of extrication (after pts are removed) and of structure fires for training purposes. We use a 35mm camera and all copies are retained by the department.
We were once asked by a deputy to take some pictures of a scene because his camera malfunctioned. We took the pictures and then one copy of the pictures of that scene only were given to the Sheriff at the jail.
Whenever I teach I tell the class that I will be showing video and photos, some that may be embarrassing to those involved. I continue that I think it is appropriate to show documented mistakes in an educational setting within the "business" as long as no victims are shown and a certain amount of privacy provided, however I tell them that it is NEVER appropriate to post on youtube, facebook or other outlets. I even use LODD reports in my classes because there is something to be learned.
We have to draw a fine line. One person's teachable picture can be someone else's gorefest or laugh riot.
My Goals as a FF/EMT
1. Everyone goes home safe
2. Don't end up on YouTube
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Permalink Reply by Lester Pearsall on
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We take pictures at accident scenes and use them to develop better ways to handle entrapment situations. Those pictures are used in a controlled environment and not released to anyone outside the department. It is automatic suspension if you are caught.
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Permalink Reply by Art "ChiefReason" Goodrich on
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No straw man arguments will be allowed here.
He was a moron for taking the video and has no right to continue in public safety.
YOU explain to your citizens why you take videos of their deceased and post them on the internet.
Then come back here with that argument.
Otherwise; it's a no brainer.
This wasn't a little "oops" here.
So don't treat it like one.
And what I have done in my career has no bearing here.
Monkey see; monkey do is NOT a valid argument.
But you go right ahead and defend him.
I don't really care how he feels at this point. I only care how the parents feel and I pray to God that her two, young children never sees that footage.
The "backlash" comes from him taking the video.
It didn't come from discussing it.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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This incident occurred in Georgia, not New Jersey. New Jersey rules do not apply.
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