Guelph, Ont. reporter speaks out after he was detained and camera seized by OPP

A Guelph, Ont. journalist is seeking answers from OPP and the Coroner’s Office after he was detained at the scene of a fatal crash Wednesday morning and his camera was confiscated.

A Guelph, Ont. journalist is seeking answers from OPP and the Coroner’s Office after he was detained at the scene of a fatal crash Wednesday morning and his camera was confiscated.

Richard Vivian, a senior reporter for the community news organization GuelphToday, was sent to cover a collision involving a pedestrian on the Hanlon Expressway.

He told CTV News that the road was closed. but the sidewalk was open, when he arrived and began walking closer to take photos.

“I’m still a good 40 metres from the scene,” he recalled. “I just raised my camera and [in] literally a couple of seconds the officer’s in my face.”

While it’s not unusual for police to ask the public and media to move back from the scene of a collision or crime, Vivian said what happened next was a first for him as a reporter.

“He grabbed my jacket cuff on my left wrist to restrain me. I told him to let me go and he said ‘no.’ He demanded I give him the camera and told me I was being detained.”

Vivian claims he was detained for about 15 minutes.