Shooting The Messenger: SF Fire Dept. Officials Attack Firefighter, Helmet Cam After Asiana Airlines Crash

from the the-camera-isn't-the-problem dept

One of the firefighters responding to the Asiana Airlines crash wore a helmet-mounted camera to the scene. This wouldn't have been a big deal (many firemen wear helmet cams), except for the fact that a fire department truck ran over and killed an injured crash victim, 16-year-old Ye Meng Yuan. Despite the fact that this was an accident (Ye was completely covered in foam and no one knew she was there until she was run over), San Francisco Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White felt this could have been avoided by not having a camera on the scene.

Of course, she doesn't phrase it that way, but she is scapegoating the camera (and the cameraman) for what was caught on film.

San Francisco's fire chief has explicitly banned firefighters from using helmet-mounted video cameras, after images from a battalion chief's Asiana Airlines crash recording became public and led to questions about first responders' actions leading up to a fire rig running over a survivor.

Chief Joanne Hayes-White said she issued the order after discovering that Battalion Chief Mark Johnson's helmet camera filmed the aftermath of the July 6 crash at San Francisco International Airport. Filming the scene may have violated both firefighters' and victims' privacy, Hayes-White said, trumping whatever benefit came from knowing what the footage shows.

"There comes a time that privacy of the individual is paramount, of greater importance than having a video," Hayes-White said.
Given the timing of the "new" ban on cameras, Hayes-White's decision was met with incredulity, both from within the fire department and without, most notably from the Ye family's lawyer.
"Why would anybody not want to know the truth?" he told the Chronicle. "What's wrong with knowing what happened? What's wrong with keeping people honest? That's what the helmet cam did, in effect, in this case."
Hayes-White, however, pointed to the fact that the ban was already on the books.
Hayes-White said Friday that helmet cameras were covered by a 2009 ban on video cameras "in any department facility." The Fire Department could be held liable for violating federal medical-privacy laws if firefighters use the footage in unauthorized fashion, the chief said.
Hayes-White also went after Battalion Chief Mark Johnson for filming the footage.
“He violated the rules,” department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge said. “He is not allowed to use any kind of recording device and not allowed to film anyone without their permission.”
This statement was made even as Hayes-White equivocated and promised to "discuss" lifting the camera ban. Tom Connor, the firefighters' union rep, questioned the language in the camera ban, which prevents the use of cameras in a "departmental facility."
“So now they’re saying that the airport is a departmental facility? That the streets of San Francisco are a departmental facility?” O’Connor said.
Hayes-White explained that away, too.
Hayes-White said her 2009 ban on video cameras in facilities was meant to include emergency scenes...
Meant?

Hayes-White should take a long look at what is and isn't permitted before shooting the messenger. Mark Johnson filmed the scene, including his call to move in a foam sprayer, a decision which proved to be fatal for Ye. Rather than cover this up and dump the footage, he voluntarily turned over his recording so it could be used in the investigation. Johnson had a lot of options, considering he was using an unapproved personal camera, but he chose to aid investigators who were looking into his actions at the crash scene. Instead of being respected for his honesty and his contribution to the investigation, he's now facing possible disciplinary action for recording the scene, all because the fire chief would apparently be happier if Ye's death was relegated to the controlled narrative of a back-of-the-filing-cabinet incident report.

Hayes-White keeps stressing "privacy," but it's not privacy she looking for, it's control. While the ban of helmet cameras may have some privacy implications, nothing about the timing, actions or statements made indicates this is really about privacy. Something happened that shouldn't have and the chief's first instinct is to attack the source: Mark Johnson and his "unapproved" helmet cam.

Fortunately, the fire department is planning to revisit its 2009 camera ban, prompted by the backlash to its earlier statements. There's no word whether the disciplinary actions levied against Johnson will be rescinded and the statement itself is loaded with ambiguous terminology.
Department spokeswoman Mindy Talmadge told reporters on Monday that the battalion chief's actions violated a 2009 prohibition on unauthorized recordings.

But she says that in recognition of the valuable information the video provided, the department would revisit the issue and possibly update the policy. Talmadge says there is no timeline for completing the review.
So, the SF Fire Department can expect a possibly updated policy at some point between now and never. This isn't exactly a turnaround for the department -- more of a conciliatory sidestep. If nothing else, footage shot by responding units can be used as a training tool. More importantly, it can be utilized as an impartial witness.

While Hayes-White and Talmadge are right to be concerned about safety, the answer is to put policies in place that protect citizens, not issue (or reinforce) blanket bans in order to protect the fire department.

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Filed Under: accountability, asiana crash, fire department, helmet cameras, joanne hayes-white, mark johnson, sffd, sfo


Reader Comments

The First Word

Speaking as someone who trains first responders

I'm incredibly proud that Johnson documented his own actions and then turned them over -- even when they turned out to have dire consequences for one of the victims he was trying to rescue.

Accidents with mass casualties are messy: victims get left on the ground and forgotten, people administer the wrong meds, families get separated, all hell breaks loose. Yes, we train people over and over again to minimize all this, but as the saying goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy. It'd be great if every response was perfectly executed under time pressure, and we do work toward that goal, but it'll never happen.

So yes, it's tragic that rescuers ended up killing a victim, but that's just an extreme case of what happens every time there's a bus crash or plane crash or train wreck or anything similar. Until we can get 37 or 80 or 213 first responders to all think with one brain, it's going to keep happening.

And the first responders we want to keep are the ones who TELL US ABOUT IT. Because when they do, we can figure out what went wrong and train to avoid it. So Johnson probably just changed the response protocol for every FD in North America that rolls trucks into foam, because he had the integrity and guts to show us what happened. Yes, it's tragic, yes it's terrible, yes the FD will probably be sued, yes to all of that: but at least we have the opportunity to learn something instead of forever being in the dark and not knowing how or why Ye Meng Yuan died.
—Anonymous Coward

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  • icon
    Ninja (profile), 27 Aug 2013 @ 9:50am

    Am I the only one finding this borderline sarcasm? I mean, you have no expectation of privacy in the digital era but suddenly when it makes some Govt outfit look bad then "OMG PRIVACY!"...

    And honestly mistakes happen and while it may seem obvious that the foam shouldn't be applied in such a way or the car shouldn't get so close to the site (or get in very slowly) it has never happened. Nobody found it obvious till the tragedy took place. So instead of being a complete moron she should be working on setting up guidelines to avoid further incidents and these efforts should include the firefighter recording the whole thing.

    And if cameras are helping identifying security issues or some abuse (think cops dash cams) then instead of waiting the employees to bring their own cameras PROVIDE THEM FROM THE CORPORATION ITSELF.

    But no, let us try to evade negative repercussions. While creating even worse repercussion. The firefighter is the only one that scored a win in the whole story. Even when he failed and caused the death of the girl by mistake.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Ninja (profile), 27 Aug 2013 @ 9:51am

      Re:

      Even when he failed and caused the death of the girl by mistake.

      Replace when with if. Killing the girl was a fail, how he handled the whole thing was the win. Hopefully her family forgives the firefighter.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 28 Aug 2013 @ 1:26am

        Re: Re:

        Hopefully her family forgives the firefighter.

        This comment and the one above about how the FD will probably get sued is what fucks me off with the US (and plenty of other places too I guess).

        Why the FUCK does someone nee to be forgiven and/or sued for a fucking accident?

        Too many people love to blame other people for their own shitty circumstances.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        PaulT (profile), 28 Aug 2013 @ 1:54am

        Re: Re:

        Yep, it was clearly an accident and his actions in allowing investigators access to all available materials - even if they might be used against him - is the height of integrity in such circumstances. I hope the family also recognise this, though I could understand why they might be reluctant to do so.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 9:58am

    They have to ban internal use of cameras before they can justify arresting the public for filming emergency responders.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 10:01am

    Speaking as someone who trains first responders

    I'm incredibly proud that Johnson documented his own actions and then turned them over -- even when they turned out to have dire consequences for one of the victims he was trying to rescue.

    Accidents with mass casualties are messy: victims get left on the ground and forgotten, people administer the wrong meds, families get separated, all hell breaks loose. Yes, we train people over and over again to minimize all this, but as the saying goes, no plan survives contact with the enemy. It'd be great if every response was perfectly executed under time pressure, and we do work toward that goal, but it'll never happen.

    So yes, it's tragic that rescuers ended up killing a victim, but that's just an extreme case of what happens every time there's a bus crash or plane crash or train wreck or anything similar. Until we can get 37 or 80 or 213 first responders to all think with one brain, it's going to keep happening.

    And the first responders we want to keep are the ones who TELL US ABOUT IT. Because when they do, we can figure out what went wrong and train to avoid it. So Johnson probably just changed the response protocol for every FD in North America that rolls trucks into foam, because he had the integrity and guts to show us what happened. Yes, it's tragic, yes it's terrible, yes the FD will probably be sued, yes to all of that: but at least we have the opportunity to learn something instead of forever being in the dark and not knowing how or why Ye Meng Yuan died.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 10:12am

      Re: Speaking as someone who trains first responders

      It is sickening. You have these clowns in power that would rather protect their own wallets than make an honest review of mistakes that costed lives.
      Johnson is the true firefighter, Fire Chief Joanne Hayes-White should be doused with foam and ran over.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Ninja (profile), 27 Aug 2013 @ 12:05pm

      Re: Speaking as someone who trains first responders

      I do hope he is not sued as an individual. It was clearly an unintentional mistake and the corporation itself should shield the firefighter while addressing the problem to avoid future tragedies like this and supporting the family all while being very open and transparent about it. There's clearly no ill-will from neither party except for the chief it would seem...

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Loki, 27 Aug 2013 @ 10:16am

    So basically what she said was privacy is of the utmost importance whenever it alleviates government institutions from proper accountability or responsibilities, otherwise forget about it.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      TheUglyOne (profile), 27 Aug 2013 @ 11:41am

      Re:

      Agreed. My thought was at some level privacy is lost at the time of a tragedy. People's "private parts" have to be exposed at times so the first responders do their job. Having footage of the incident does not violate privacy unless it is released PUBLICLY. Johnson did not release the footage for gain, he turned it over to aid the investigation. No privacy was lost. Hayes-White is just terrified of the coming lawsuit because she will have no defense against it.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Argonel (profile), 27 Aug 2013 @ 10:32am

    So instead of punishing unauthorized releases of recordings they say don't record anything. makes it a little difficult to use recordings as a training tool which will in turn make it difficult to get any better at your jobs. Of course it also makes it hard to hold anyone accountable for mistakes.

    Good for the politician in the short term, bad for the department in the long term. No bets on how this will turn out.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 10:45am

    She's in the wrong job, can anyone send her resume to NSA recruiters.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 1:31pm

      Re:

      to #8

      she sent it, but it wasn't redacted enough, so they declined to interview her!! she was told to take more lessons on how to not put out information in letter form by simply drawing thick, black lines on a sheet of paper. she is hoping for better luck next time!!

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • This comment has been flagged by the community. Click here to show it
    identicon
    out_of_the_blue, 27 Aug 2013 @ 10:45am

    So what's your point? That Google Glass must be allowed everywhere?

    Otherwise it's confined to SF Fire Dept policy, which has a reasonable basis for the ban. Just read the 3rd para of first block quote. She's not running around confiscating personal phones and cameras.

    So unless you're vitally interested in SF Fire Dept, then you've no visible reason for writing it up.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 10:58am

      Re: So what's your point? That Google Glass must be allowed everywhere?

      Just stop talking. You are not helping at all.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • identicon
        Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 11:05am

        Re: Re: So what's your point? That Google Glass must be allowed everywhere?

        Just don't feed the troll. Just report and move on.

        link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 10:57am

    all she is doing is trying to put the blame on to something/someone else. would not having a camera stopped the girl from being run over and killed? od course not! it would, however, have given the fire service the chance to find something else to take the blame on what was obviously an extremely rare and regrettable accident. it just makes me sad to think that after surviving a plane crash, the poor mite was run over. if anyone's number was up, hers definitely was!!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    RyanNerd (profile), 27 Aug 2013 @ 11:13am

    Okay so the helmet camera is manufactured by...

    Ban-No-Cam

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 11:27am

    But couldn't there be _some_ circumstances where having a first responder wear a camera might contravene the The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act or perhaps some California health privacy law?

    Has not the clip of the fire vehicle running over the young woman (or showing the rough estimate of when and where it must have occurred) been released to the press?

    I am not entirely certain that release served any real social utility.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      TheUglyOne (profile), 27 Aug 2013 @ 11:45am

      Re:

      I don't know about other laws but HIPPA specifically controls the release of medical information to unauthorized parties. (eg. an ex husband cannot have access to his ex wife's medical records) I don't see this situation as a violation because no medical information was released. If that were the case then first responders would have to erect a barrier immediately around any crash, etc. so a gawking public would not violate the HIPPA rights of the victim.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    any moose cow word, 27 Aug 2013 @ 11:43am

    ...not allowed to film anyone without their permission.

    I sure they are not allowed to run people over without their permission, but their privacy is apparently more important.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 12:20pm

    I see. So privacy is a right and important in the context of tort-avoidance by officials and corporate citizens. Got it.

    Its taking me forever to decode the meaning of the 1337speek our leaders like to use.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    crade (profile), 27 Aug 2013 @ 12:35pm

    Looks like they are going the other direction around here and giving cops cameras as part of their uniform.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/story/2013/08/19/calgary-police-body-cams.html

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    The Groove Tiger (profile), 27 Aug 2013 @ 4:01pm

    If a truck runs over a crash victim, and nobody sees it, did the victim really die?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Aug 2013 @ 8:29pm

    Bureaucrats want to be able to hide and spin the message as they wish.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 27 Oct 2018 @ 1:31pm

    Just for clarity, the person with the helmet camera was not driving the vehicle that ran over the girl.

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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