Video: EMS Official Confronts WNBC Photographer

A WNBC photographer got locked in a confrontation with an emergency medical official earlier this month while trying to cover the aftermath of a chemical spill in Bohemia, NY.  And the incident was caught on tape (video above) by Phil Datz, the freelance cameraman who was arrested in July for filming police officers following a car chase.

The video shows the official gripping the photographer’s camera with both hands as he tries to wrestle him away from the scene of the chemical spill.

“The EMS worker specifically attacked the cameraman, and it is a frightening thing to see the escalation to physical violence,” Datz, who was covering the chemical spill himself at the time, told The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.  “I would hope that these incidents being brought to light will help show a pattern and that there will be further education so that future incidents can be stopped.”

Following his run-in with police this summer, Datz had his arrest nullified and the local police commissioner ordered officers to enroll in remedial media training.

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