Guelph, Ont. reporter speaks out after he was detained and camera seized by OPP

A Guelph, Ont. journalist is seeking answers from OPP and the Coroner’s Office after he was detained at the scene of a fatal crash Wednesday morning and his camera was confiscated.

Richard Vivian, a senior reporter for the community news organization GuelphToday, was sent to cover a collision involving a pedestrian on the Hanlon Expressway.

He told CTV News that the road was closed, but the sidewalk was open when he arrived, and he began walking closer to take photos.

“I’m still a good 40 metres from the scene,” he recalled. “I just raised my camera and [in] literally a couple of seconds the officer’s in my face.”

While it’s not unusual for police to ask the public and media to move back from the scene of a collision or crime, Vivian said what happened next was a first for him as a reporter.

“He grabbed my jacket cuff on my left wrist to restrain me. I told him to let me go and he said ‘no.’ He demanded I give him the camera and told me I was being detained.”

Vivian claims he was detained for about 15 minutes.

“What I was told by the officer was that the coroner’s boss had come to the scene and had decided they didn’t want to interrupt my ability to do my job, so I got the camera back, but they were keeping the [SD] card,” he explained.

Vivian said his SD card wasn’t returned until Thursday afternoon.

OPP AND CORONER'S RESPONSE

The OPP put out a statement Wednesday night in response to the incident.

It reads, in part: “The OPP is reviewing the circumstances of the interaction between the member of the media and one of the OPP investigators. Our role, under the direction of the coroner, is to conduct a complete and thorough death investigation, while ensuring its integrity.”

They went on to say: “The OPP respects the freedom of the press and values its relationships with the media, while also taking a victim-centered approach during our investigations.”

In an email to CTV News, the Coroner's Office added: "If a coroner recognizes that the photographs would assist for the purposes of a death investigation, the Coroner's Act provides authority to seize the SD card, however, there would not be a need to keep a camera. We are reviewing the specific circumstances to ensure proper processes were followed."

LEGAL EXPERT REACTS

Legal expert Ari Goldkind said it appears the OPP were in the wrong.

“I think the OPP knows they’ve got a problem on their hands,” he said. “If I was the reporter I would [be] contacting counsel.”

The Coroner’s Office does have expanded powers during a death investigation but Goldkind said it appears, in this case, to be a clear overreach.

“This wasn’t somebody obstructing, this wasn’t someone with secret information. The police officers on their own cellphones could have taken the very same pictures the reporter was.”

POSSIBLE LEGAL ACTION

Vivian believes the situation could have been better handled with a simple discussion.

“My general approach would be to comply with some negotiation. ‘What do you mean back up, how far?’ That sort of thing.”

He said it’s not up to police to determine what journalists are allowed to gather.

“It would hurt us as a company, and my reputation personally, if we were to run something that showed a [dead] body,” Vivian explained. “We even crop licence plates out in fatality accident photos.”

He decided to share his story in the hopes that it prevents similar situations.

According to GuelphToday, their parent company Village Media plans to file a formal complaint with the Coroner’s Office and Ontario Provincial Police.

The Canadian Association of Journalists has also reacted to the incident.

They called it an “egregious abuse of power” and a “blatant violation of press freedom.”

Statement regarding incident at fatal collision near Guelph. pic.twitter.com/whqmwyYCbB

— Ontario Provincial Police (@OPP_News) December 20, 2023