Says Hartford Police Violated His Right To Free Expression

A journalist who was questioned by Hartford, CT police over his use of a UAV to take photographs of an automobile accident has sued the police department, claiming his right to free expression was violated.

In the suit, filed in U.S. District Court, journalist Pedro Rivera claims that he did not violate any laws when he flew the unmanned aircraft over the accident scene. FAA regulations prohibit the use of UAVs for commercial purposes, but Rivera told the police he was on his own time, not acting in his role as an on-call journalist with television station WFSB, according to a report from the Associated Press. He did, however, admit that the occasionally sent video captured using the aircraft to the station.

The police told him to leave the area and that he was interfering with a police investigation. They later went to the station and "caused a lot of problems for me and my job," Rivera said. He was suspended without pay for a week from his position.

Rivera claims the police violated his First Amendment right to free expression and his Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable seizures. The UAV was hovering about 150 feet above the accident scene "in public space" and "in plain view," according to Rivera's attorney, Norm Pattis.

The police say they did not ask Rivera to ground his aircraft, but that their primary concern was for the officers on the scene, as well as for the privacy of the person fatally injured in the accident whose body was partially ejected from the destroyed car.

Pattis said the suit was in large part about "trying to make sure police officers don't legislate from the beat" as well as having a court give an opinion on what the standards are in such cases.

(Quadcopter pictured in file photo for illustration purposes only)

FMI: www.ctd.uscourts.gov, www.faa.gov