Social Media

Today’s burning question: My chief thinks he can stop us from taking photos at incident scenes. He does not seem to understand we have a 1st Amendment Right to film in public places. Can you point me to any cases showing that an on-duty firefighter has a 1st Amendment Right to film? Answer: No, I cannot.

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A Muslim firefighter who claims he suffered years of harassment because of his race and religion, has settled his federal court lawsuit with the city and a lieutenant. Raheem Hassan filed suit earlier this year alleging race discrimination, religious discrimination, sexual harassment, retaliation, discrimination under state law, discrimination under city law, and violations of his 1st, 4th, 5th and 14th Amendment Rights.

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A Pennsylvania EMT is facing criminal charges for sending inappropriate electronic content to an underage female patient. Joshua Patterson is accused of sending a sexually-explicit photo of himself to a 15-year-old girl he treated after an accident on November 15, 2018.

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A Texas firefighter who posted remarks on Facebook that supported the sport shooting Latinos crossing the border has been terminated from two fire departments that he served with. The Westfield Fire Department and the Bellaire Fire Department fired firefighter Chris Bush following his post last week.

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Today’s burning question: I am a fire chief and I want to know if I can discipline a firefighter for the comments his wife is posting on social media that demean and disparage me and the fire department if I know he is behind it. Answer: Ah yes, the proverbial “coward’s way out”: using one’s spouse as a mouthpiece to criticize the fire chief and the fire department.

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The Boston firefighter who posted a cartoon image of a muscular Black man carrying the severed head of a white man, has been terminated. Octavius Rowe, a 15 year veteran, was fired on April 30, 2018 following an investigation that began last October

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Two Ohio firefighters have been placed on administrative leave pending an investigation into a viral video involving the punishment of a girl by cutting her hair. The firefighters, who are married, reportedly work for the Middleton Township Fire Department.

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An Illinois fire department is facing court-ordered sanctions after having been caught deleting evidence from its computer system that was relevant to a sexual harassment case. The Country Club Hills Fire Department has been embroiled in a sexual harassment suit brought by firefighter Dena Lewis-Bystrzycki dating back to 2012.

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A Detroit Fire Department captain who was terminated last summer after a series of racist posts, has been reinstated by an arbitrator. Captain Tim Goodman was suspended and later terminated over Facebook posts that were characterized as “xenophobic and racist” by the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Michigan.

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A female firefighter employed by a volunteer fire company who was fired earlier this year over a Facebook post, has filed suit against the department and the firefighters’ union claiming her termination was retaliation, gender discrimination and a breach of the union’s duty of fair representation.

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A North Carolina fire captain who was caught with child pornography on his fire department computer, has been sentenced to 51 months in prison. Aaron Lanning, 39, plead guilty last week to five counts of Third Degree Sexual Exploitation of a Minor.

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A veteran Boston firefighter has been suspended over a social media post that depicted a man carrying a decapitated head. Octavius Rowe, a 15 year veteran member of the Boston Fire Department, was placed on paid administrative leave on October 2, 2017.

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The US Supreme Court has denied the request of Howard County Battalion Chief Kevin Buker to consider an appeal of his termination in 2013. Chief Buker was fired following a series of Facebook posts that began over the gun-control debate

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A Massachusetts paramedic whose Facebook post referred to NFL football players who took a knee during the national anthem as “porch monkeys” has been suspended by her part-time fire department and terminated by her ambulance company.

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