CT attorney ‘not sure’ statute applies in public information officer arrest

MONTVILLE — A Connecticut attorney said it wouldn’t be surprising if a judge dismisses the charges against the public information officer for the Chesterfield Fire Company, charged last week in connection with crash scene photos he took and posted to his agency’s Facebook page last month.

Bridgeport-based attorney Mark Arons, who is not representing the individual in this case but offered his legal analysis Friday after a brief review of the warrant and photos, said he didn’t see how the public information officer’s actions violated the law.

“I’m not sure that he should be charged under the statute,” Arons said Friday a brief review of the case. “I’m not sure it applies here because he was in the performance of his duties at the time.”

Steven E. Frischling was taken into custody Tuesday on a warrant that charged him with two counts of illegally taking or transmission by first responders of images of crime or accident victims.

Frischling told Hearst Connecticut Media on Thursday he was surprised by his arrest and doesn’t feel he violated the law. He said as public information officer, he responds to incidents and documents the fire company’s response to the event. He said his duties include taking photos of the scene and posting them to his agency’s Facebook page to inform the public.

Police Lt. Dave Radford, who investigated the complaint and authored Frischling’s arrest warrant, has not returned requests for comment on how the photos meet the threshold for the law.

The statute says first responders are prohibited from photographing a person and disseminating the images without the consent of that person or of a member of that person’s immediate family “other than in the performance of his or her duties.” Someone convicted of this offense could face a fine of up to $2,000, up to one year in jail or both.

Frischling, who has been with the fire company for three years, is scheduled to appear in court on April 15.

Arons said in this case, he would expect either the charges get dismissed or some kind of plea deal is made for a short term of community service. He said once a person completes court-ordered community service, the charge is removed from their record.

Arons also mentioned how the photos mirror ones seen daily on news sites.

In a bill filed in January, state lawmakers proposed amending the statute “to prohibit members of the news media from publishing images or videos of a fatal accident scene prior to notification of a family or household member of the fatality.”

The bill remains before the government administration and elections committee.

“While Radio Television Digital News Association opposes CT SB 760, we strongly encourage journalists to be sensitive to those hurt/killed in vehicle crashes,” said Dan Shelley, executive director of RTDNA. “The bill would also limit journalists' ability to publish images of police at crime/accident scenes.”

Frischling said he shared the Feb. 7 photos with the description of the crash to inform people of what happened, especially since the collision shut down a major intersection for more than an hour.

Montville police began investigating the Facebook post about a two-car crash on Route 85 in at Grassy Hill Road after an attorney for one of the victims contacted police on March 3, according to the warrant. It said Frischling allegedly posted photos of crash victims without permission.

Despite the claims in the warrant, Frischling said any victims of the crash had their faces and license plates blurred to protect their identity — an internal policy at the fire company.

The images and accident summary remain on the fire company’s Facebook page.