City demands news media remove pictures of fired Miami firefighters – plus victim speaks
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Previously: Photos show noose & penis drawings left for black Miami Fire Rescue lieutenant
The Miami Fire Rescue lieutenant whose family photos were defaced with a noose and penis drawings is speaking out about the firings of a captain, lieutenant and four firefighters. Lt. Robert Webster has been on the department for 17 years. He is assigned to Fire Station 12 where he is serving the neighborhood where he grew up. Listen to his interview above.
In other developments, hours after Miami Fire Rescue officially released the photos of the six firefighters fired on Wednesday a city attorney is demanding the news media take down the pictures.
Just after midnight Friday morning, an assistant city attorney wrote an email to multiple news outlets demanding that the media “cease and desist from further showing the firefighters pictures in your coverage of this event.” Jones said the photos of the six men had been released accidentally.
“As former first responders, their photos are confidential and exempt under Florida’s public disclosure law and should not have been released,” wrote Kevin R. Jones.
The Miami Herald has made the decision to leave the firefighters’ photos online. Attorneys representing the newspaper said there is no obligation to take them down, since they were legally obtained.
“The photos of the firefighters are part of this story. If we had received them from any other source, they also would have been published without hesitation,” Rick Hirsch, Miami Herald managing editor, wrote in an email. “We have no intention of un-publishing them.”
