Trial of journalists reveals police attitudes toward news media
The obstruction of justice trial of two Aylmer journalists isn’t just putting freedom of the press to the test — it’s revealing how some police officers view the news media.
Take the testimony heard on Wednesday of Elgin OPP Insp. Brad Fishleigh, the officer who gave the order to arrest Aylmer Express publisher John Hueston, 67, and editor Brett Hueston, 33, the father-andson journalism team who showed up uninvited where a car had been launched over a cliff into Lake Erie. The Huestons have pleaded not guilty to obstructing a peace officer and trespassing. Brett Hueston pleaded not guilty to an additional charge of driving around a road-closed sign.
Fishleigh, a 26-year veteran, told defence lawyer Gordon Cudmore that, even though it had been a while since he had taken his police oath, he administers the oath to new recruits. The oath includes upholding the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Cudmore suggested that includes freedom of the press. Fishleigh said the section is actually “freedom of expression and lawful assembly.” He said he believed in freedom of the press “with limitations.” Ontario Court Justice Glen Donald pulled out a copy of the Charter and quoted Section 2 ( b), which includes “freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.” Donald said he read it “for education purposes,” and not to give an indication of what he thinks of the case before him or what his decision will be. What the Huestons walked into when they went around the road-closed sign on Springfield Road at Nova Scotia Line on June 24, 2017, was a tense situation. Police officers testified the Huestons obstructed justice by taking them away from their duties for seven to 20 minutes. The day before, an OPP officer had followed a car to Springfield Road, where the driver threw something out of the window, then sped to the end of the dead-end, through a bean field and over the cliff. The officer’s involvement invoked the mandate of the Special Investigations Unit (SIU). Fishleigh testified that once the SIU was involved, the OPP could send out one media release that was “general and without specifics” and would have to be approved by the SIU. Then all inquiries would go to the SIU.
The media release was meant to satisfy the press and “let people know we are engaged,” Fishleigh said. Cudmore pointed out the release didn’t say the crime scene was closed, that the public wasn’t allowed to drive in or warned the public shouldn’t come to the shoreline. The Huestons arrived at a critical moment when 35 Malahide Township firefighters, plus an OPP dive team and other personnel were about to drag the car out, with the deceased driver still inside. Following a heated discussion with officers who had asked the pair to leave, the Huestons were handcuffed and put in separate cruisers. They waited half an hour while another officer was called in to help with transport. Fishleigh was asked by assistant Crown attorney Celia Jutras how the Huestons had affected his duties. Fishleigh said he told a staff-sergeant to take over the operation while he dealt with the journalists, but he forgot to hand over his radio — the only one connecting the fire department with the OPP diving team. Without that critical communication, the whole operation was stopped. He eventually agreed with Cudmore that if he had remembered, the recovery efforts “probably would not have shut down.”
The trial continues Sept. 10.