HARTFORD, Conn. – A journalist has filed a lawsuit alleging Connecticut police violated his free-speech rights when they questioned him for using a drone to take pictures of a car wreck.
Pedro Rivera's federal complaint was filed Tuesday against the Hartford Police Department. It says officers demanded that he stop flying the remote-controlled aircraft and told his employer that he had interfered with a police investigation.
The lawsuit says that Rivera was suspended from his job at WFSB-TV as a result. Rivera is an on-call employee for the Connecticut television station but he was not working for them when he recorded the accident scene on Feb. 1.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the case.
Lt. Brian Foley, a Hartford police spokesman, says he cannot comment on pending litigation.
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