Wildey v. Chester, New Jersey

Michael Wildey provides a public service.  He listens to his police scanner, and when there is an incident in his hometown of Chester, New Jersey, he heads out to the scene to photograph the surroundings and record the police response.  He knows to stay out of the way, and takes photos from a distance.  

One day he went out and was taking innocuous photos of wrecked vehicles, and the Chester Police got annoyed with him taking photos.  The bodycam footage, provided below, shows that he was not intrusive, not rude, not a problem – the police just didn’t want him there.  

The police cornered him and told him they were going to seize his phone since he was taking photos.  Right there, they violated the First Amendment.  But it gets worse.  Facing arrest or seizure of his phone, Wildey offered to delete the photos.  But we all know that you can recover your photos from your “recently deleted” folder.  So did the police.  They stood over him requiring him to delete his “deleted items” as well.  

This was an affront to the First and Fourth Amendments.  There is a First Amendment right to take photos of the police in the discharge of their official duties.  This actually extends to all government officials.  (We handled a similar case in Berge v. Ben Lummis and City of Gloucester).  This isn’t even a close call in New Jersey, where the Attorney General issued advice to all police departments about the First Amendment right to photograph the police.  

As of the date of this post, we have filed a complaint in the federal district of New Jersey, seeking to restore Mr. Wildey’s rights.  We also sought a preliminary injunction.  Of course the police opposed.  And we replied.  

The case and the injunctive relief are pending.  

In this case, we have the privilege and honor of serving as co-counsel with Vincent Verdiramo, Esq. and Alan J. Levy, Esq.