The release of a video by “First Amendment auditors” taken at Town Hall on Friday has town officials working to train staff on improving engagement with members of the public.
The video, uploaded Monday to YouTube, shows public health nurse Simone Carter pulling a fire alarm in Town Hall following a confrontation with one of the auditors. It goes on to show the police and fire response to the alarm pull, along with a sit-down with Town Manager Elaine Lazarus in which one of the auditors — known as Josh — files a complaint.
“When someone pulls a fire alarm, it’s a crime for a reason, and it should be treated as such,” said Josh, creator of the YouTube channel Accountability for All, where the video “SHE PULLED THE FIRE ALARM TO STOP US FROM RECORDING! LAWSUIT!” was uploaded.
Josh (who declined to provide his full name) alleges that Carter committed two offenses when he and another auditor showed up to record at Town Hall on Friday. First, Carter pulled the fire alarm under false pretenses.
“No argument could be made it was an accidental pull,” said Josh. “She confirmed that she pulled it.”
At around the 15-minute mark of the video, Carter — after attempting to get Josh to leave her office and apparently making a phone call to the police for assistance — approaches a fire alarm near the exit doors of the Town Hall basement and activates it. When the auditor asks if she pulled the alarm, Carter nods her head.
According to Massachusetts General Law, someone who “without reasonable cause” makes or circulates a false fire alarm shall be charged a fine of up to $500 or face a year in prison.
Josh’s concern over the fire alarm pull extends to the police response afterward. HPD Sgt. Bill Burchard was the first to respond to the scene and spoke with Carter directly. He then spoke with Josh, who inquired about the legality of pulling the fire alarm.
“It’s an ongoing investigation,” Sgt. Burchard stated in response.
When the auditor said he had footage of the incident to show the officer, Burchard replied: “No, I’m good.”
Josh alleged that the HPD classified Carter’s actions as “an accidental pull” according to radio broadcasts he obtained. “They tried to cover it [up],” he claimed.
Carter’s second offense, according to Josh, is an alleged attempt to stifle his First Amendment rights. He claimed that by pulling the fire alarm, Carter tried to restrict his rights to record in a public building.
Audits, accountability, aftermath
The video from Friday’s audit has been viewed more than 58,000 times since it was uploaded on Monday. Hundreds of comments have been left on the HPD’s Facebook page decrying the incident and calling for action. Many of the commenters are not Hopkinton residents.
“What I want to see — and I think everyone wants to see — is accountability for the government,” Josh explained.
That accountability underpins Josh’s YouTube channel, which has over 247,000 subscribers. He and other auditors enter public buildings across the country and record in public spaces.
“If we do encounter resistance … we try to provide education to let [municipal employees] know that’s the case,” Josh said.
First Amendment audits involve individuals filming and/or photographing in public spaces to test their right to do so. While those in favor of these audits argue they promote transparency and ethical behavior, opponents question the often confrontational nature of the videos.
Josh asserted that Carter knew what she was doing and that police officers afforded her privilege for being a town employee. That same privilege, he argued, would not be extended to citizens.
“If she meant to pull [the fire alarm] … she should be charged as everyone else,” he said. “She shouldn’t be given extra privileges.”
“If someone can pull the fire alarm purposely … then I should be able to pull the alarm and not expect to go to jail,” Josh added.
Carter did not provide a reason for her actions to the auditor directly. In the video, she can be heard on her phone call to the HPD saying: “I have someone here who is taping me, and I have private medical information that cannot be shared.”
Regardless of Carter’s reasoning, Josh said he wants action from the town. “I think she should be terminated and charged, to say the least,” he said. He noted that his lawyer is compiling a lawsuit for prior restraint because Carter allegedly infringed on his First Amendment rights. Josh also claimed that he made an offer to the town that he would drop the suit if the town fired Carter.
Josh’s experience in Town Hall was not all bad, he admitted. In the video, he commended the good attitudes of Hopkinton’s municipal employees and Town Manager Elaine Lazarus for taking responsibility for the issue.
Town opens personnel matter
Lazarus told the Independent in a brief phone call that the town is “committed to transparency and respecting the public’s right to access public spaces.” Despite the incident, she affirmed that the public is welcome to visit Town Hall regardless of whether they’re filming or not.
“We encourage residents to come in, ask questions and engage with us,” she said.
In response to what happened, Lazarus explained that the town is implementing measures to ensure similar issues do not occur in the future. Among those measures is additional training to prepare municipal employees for these types of interactions.
“We recognize these situations can feel stressful for staff,” said Lazarus. The training will help “ensure employees are prepared to respond appropriately while we’re maintaining both public access and safety.”
Regarding Carter’s employment status, Lazarus declined to comment, stating the town does not comment on active personnel matters. Health Director Shaun McAuliffe declined to comment as well.
The Independent reached out to the HPD for further clarification on any investigation or charges relating to the incident. A source at Town Hall anticipated a statement from the HPD would be released later this week.
WOW! A bunch of out of town people are coming in and wasting our taxpayer money with their publicity stunts? Unbelievable!
Rules for thee not for me. It is Simone Carter costing the taxpayer money. Praise Jesus. God told me you’re a bad parent.
That is odd. God told me that you are bad human.
The thing is if John Doe goes in there and pulls the fire alarm, they would be arrested, processed to be in front of a judge, get charged, pay a fine, probation or even jail time, but not others like her… She should know the law on pulling fire alarms, better than anyone else… At least a fine, a suspension with no pay for a certain time, etc. There are so many things they could do to her, which they dont want to do at all.. Important question is, who is her husband, father, mother, brother, sister or other family member? Yes, most likely someone in the government who makes this “nothing” happen to her.. Let a nobody pull the alarm and you will see what happens….
The thing is that she had no criminal intent. She is part of our community. We do not care for out of town troublemakers coming after one of us. The town is with her and if you are going to assume that the whole town is related to her, that would be silly.
So, you condone the town officials committing crimes and endangering hundreds of people, including children, for miles around? That is exactly what you’re saying.
The criminal intent WAS her intent, and then her action, of pulling the fire alarm. Pulling the alarm IS criminal!
I can promise you that not everyone in this town is with her. So please speak for yourself Hopkinton Parent
Another ignorant comment from an uneducated “citizen”. It was the nurses publicity stunt that’s wasting taxpayer money. Perhaps doing a little research into various laws, ordnances, and constitutional rights will help you make a more informed opinion before you post a comment like this. Since knowledge is power, and knowing is half the battle, you’re losing the war.
We do not care for bullies like you in our town. You can go back to your trailer park Sunshine.
Using low-income people who live in trailer parks to insult someone on the internet isn’t considered bullying? Good ol’ Mass civility.
You are the one insulting them by calling them low-income people. You should let us know which business you own. We can avoid you for being elitist. Do better!
the actions of your nurse are being seen by thousands. I don’t even live in your country let alone ur town and this behaviour is illegal and disgusting. the fact that ur defending it and saying “we don’t allow bullies in our town” and then insulating and bullying someone in the same breath shows why she felt entitled enough to pull the stunt in the first place
I do not provide insulation service but thanks for stopping by in our country to troll us. I hope Simone Carter does feel that our town is behind her.
There wasn’t any criminal intent Foolicious Maximus Ignoramus.
No, it’s the criminal nurse that pulled the fire alarm unnecessarily. Now instead of town firing the criminal, they are spending tax dollars to contract a PR firm to guide town. If the attorney is not an employee, this is another expense. Fire her and hire someone that has integrity. Unless, you like criminals.
If that’s what you gathered I think you’re a little special. This lady should be prosecuted the same way you or would’ve
What bothers me the most is the lack of concern/knowledge by the police sergeant once he realized it was a fellow town employee who pulled the alarm. Laws for thee but not me? How do you get to be a sergeant and not know the obvious law violation? HPD is developing a history of covering for each other i.e. Brennen covering for Porter. Makes one wonder what else is being covered up. This just grows the divide between the police and the public.
Correct.If you or I did this we are under arrest and charged with a felony.The corruption in the HPD has no limits.
Umm, Brennan did not cover for Porter. He brought the rapist down. The current administration is above the law so don’t dare question their professionalism. They have targeted anyone that stands up to them so watch out. JMO
First Amendment auditors are agitators. They generally provoke confrontation and then file lawsuits. Yes, First Amendment audits are legal as long as they occur in public forums and don’t violate reasonable “time, place, and manner” restrictions. The right to record government activity in public spaces is protected, but this right is not absolute. Auditors must understand the difference between public forums, where recording is generally allowed, and nonpublic forums like private offices, where it is not. Simone was in her office with private medical information and that information is confidential. ‘Josh’ may have been within his rights to record in hallways or open space but private offices are off limits unless invited in. Town Manager Lazarus should have been aware of this. By all accounts Simone does great work for the people of Hopkinton and deserves support from her employer and the citizens of the town.
Whether the auditor was right or wrong, the nurse endangered lives by pulling the call box with knowledge of no emergency. She put town residents as well as first responders at risk. PD was on the way, just not fast enough for her liking.
Couldn’t she have just closed her door? I’m not sure the location of her office.
Beth…I used to work at the Board of Health, and it was on the third floor. You have no warning of people coming into the office as the doorway is right off the stairwell. It is a tiny and cramped office. It would appear that she tried to get them to leave and they refused. Poor Simone! Having two strange men come barging into the office filming and refusing to leave would have scared the stuffings out of me! There are so much evil and strange things going on that I would have been having trouble dealing with these people who are deliberately trying to scare and unnerve people in their workspaces. It makes for good videos, and they get paid for it. As for Simone, she will have nightmares from this for a long time. She was trying to do her job in the company of people who would not accept the need for protection of personal information. I have never heard of such a thing as this group of “auditors” and what it does to people, but I have now been forewarned.
Pat: Perhaps the Board of Health was on the 3rd floor at one time, and may still be there, but this incident happened in the basement: “At around the 15-minute mark of the video, Carter — after attempting to get Josh to leave her office and apparently making a phone call to the police for assistance — approaches a fire alarm near the exit doors of the Town Hall basement and activates it. “
I guess Nick is buddies with Simone, as well as the Police. Protect their buddy at all times, who cares if they break the law.
Just shows that Schofield isn’t as “independent” as he tries to make out that he is.
She broke the law, pure and simple. Sgt. Burchard broke his oath to the Constitution by refusing to immediately arrest Carter, because he’s buddies with her.
Both should be fired for dereliction or duty and Carter arrested for her CRIME.
I agree with you Ray. I don’t know Simone per se but our Town officials deserve our support from harassment.
Even if your narrative is true that he didn’t have the right (which he did) to be in her office, SHE, already had notified the police but instead of waiting for police to arrive from NEXT DOOR, she thought it was a good idea to pull fire alarm. She was not frightened or in danger. If she was, instead of pulling fire alarm, she could have gone back into her office and locked door or locked the office door to “protect “ the medical files and left through the door NEXT to the fire alarm that she pulled. So go ahead and protect a criminal, this too shows your lack of character and integrity.
Oh so you hate the Constitution because that’s what they stand for first amendment rights. If you don’t want them in there then you must be hiding something transparency in accountability that’s just like we’re pulling that alarm. There’s no accountability for an a criminal act. The police in the town hall are all in this together. They’re covering for the woman that’s exactly what they’re doing and it’s not right. She should be fired. There shouldn’t even be a hesitation. There shouldn’t even be a discussion she should’ve been Had a citation that day for court and went to court and fine and they should’ve fired her on the spot you could see how mean and negative she was in the video. She went straight to the fire alarm and pulled it that’s illegal that’s dangerous. Someone could’ve fell down the stairs and broke their neck or a kid could’ve fell and got trampled it happens trust me it happens a lot. That is a carelessness and it’s disgusting behavior from a city employee or county whatever the hell she works for, but she was negligent and she.
My father was a firefighter for 30 yrs in Boston. I have known firefighter who were injured responding to false alarms like this. It is very scary that a nurse who works for the town would do things, it is more disgusting that the local PD will not do anything about an act that endangered not only the public because resources were tied up with the fact fire and police personnel were endangered because of responding lights and sirens.
I’d be curious for any public records on folks who have been put under arrest and/or charged with a felony for pulling a fire alarm. Do they do it when a kid in a public school pulls it? Just wondering how often fire alarms are unlawfully set off and how many convictions have occurred. My guess is very few people have actually been convicted and there are probably examples of private citizens NOT getting arrested, but don’t want to assume without the facts.
Someone should let Simone Carter know that she can file a privacy complaint on youtube to have Josh’s video taken down. There is no reason for Josh to profit off of this – that’s the only reason he makes these videos. It’s not about accountability or the first amendment. Also, a tip to HPD and the town social media administrators – his followers will flood your posts with their nonsensical replies – other towns have had to turn off commenting on their posts to keep their pages civil.
Maybe someone should impose their perceived authority on Benny Hiller with Disorderly Conduct. Benny is the one pretending this confusing the Sally Jessy Raphael Show with Real Life with his nonsensical reply. We already know the outcome of this Benny’s taxes will be raised as payout for his administrator having a silly brain moment.
I feel really bad for her. She was probably terrified he might have a gun or be dangerous… which he seems to be. His name is Josh Abrams and it appears he’s been arrested for larceny, rape and assault.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_hN6YYDKqc
While I don’t know Simone Carter, I do know what it’s like to be in a similar situation and I certainly hope no drastic steps are taken regarding her employment based on what was clearly an ambush.
While any of us can say what we think should (or should not) have happened in the moment, none of us were there. I do not think one nasty and contrived incident should derail a person’s career.
Hold her accountable for breaking the law. Do your job. Have integrity. Uphold the law or get out of law enforcement. Stop embarrassing yourself and your unit by not knowing the law WHICH IS YOUR JOB, or by lying about not knowing your job. Massachusetts needs some serious help across the entire state. Do better
Do not call them auditors. They are low life scumbags.
What if you tried to barge in to the white house, how would that have turned out for you? First amendment does not give you the right to enter any public office you want, and definitely does not give you the right to harass people.
First, the guy is obnoxious but within his legal rights.
Second, the nurses office if indeed she has confidentially identifiably medical information out on her desk the door should be locked and the door should marked as private. In this case the obnoxious guy is right. There is absolutely no excuse to leave private medical information exposed on a desk where someone can walk in in unannounced. The nurse and the Town should know better. Third, it appears that Josh never blocked her from either closing the door or leaving the office – she did both with him outside in the hall. It would have been very easy to walk out, lock the door behind her, take refuge in the clerk’s office until the police came. At no time did Josh appear to be a threat.
I will say it seems odd to place a nurses office isolated in the basement by an unlocked door in an unlocked office just for basic security reasons. There are people with behavioral health and drug issues and some degree of security would seem prudent. I know he was out an out of towner but that is not reason not to adhere to mandatory standards of confidentially and safety.
Simone Carter is one of the best employees in Hopkinton – all of these trolls who are leaving negative comments should get a life. Josh Abrams is a bad guy this is just one of the many things he’s done to harass people.
( https://tbdailynews.com/2019/08/26/josh-abrams-gets-exposed-by-malden-police-chief-and-dta-worker-for-harassing-people-at-the-dta-office/)
Karma will hopefully get him
Let’s try and follow the law next time yeah?
The “First Amendment Auditor” identified only as “Josh” was an intruder. He had no right to enter what essentially is a private office in the Town Hall. Though this is a public building certain individuals because of the sensitive nature of their work – in this case managing protected medical records – have offices that should be considered private for security reasons. This does not mean they can be sealed off as if behind bank vault doors, but their general privacy should be respected. Nurse Carter has reasonable right to expectations of being free from invasion and molestation. I might suggest the door to Nurse Carter’s office have a waist high gate as would be with a “Dutch Door.”
I think her reason for activating the fire alarm was to escalate the level of alarm to get quicker response to what she may have perceived to be a threat to her safety and security and I cannot fault her for taking that action.
you think it’s alright to break the law, because oh NO!!!! a CAMERA!!!!!!!! call the SWAT TEAM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The FACT it the public areas are NOT PRIVATE _ NOT PRIVATE-NOT PRIVATE. protecting medical records is HER RESPONSIBILITY – NOT a member of the public. Did you actually write “invasion and molestation” like a complete fool? There was no threat to her friggin safety you ridiculous ignorant individual. SHE COMMITTED A CRIME AND COST TAXPAYERS A LOT OF MOENY. so sorry that you didn’t need the fire department right at that time and they were too busy for you.
I do believe she should be fined.
Hop resident
Funny how the Town Manager is “committed to transparency” but she’s deleting every comment made on her very PUBLIC Official Government Facebook page. Each time she (or her staff) deletes a comment, it is a violation of the 1st Amendment. If she doesn’t want to deal with the redress of grievances, she should train her employees not to commit crimes on camera.
You need to read the Constitution.
she needs to be fired nor she risked the life of everyone both in the building and responding and driving on the road , she needs mental help now
So, pulling the fire alarm and endangering hundreds of people, including young children is now the correct way of following HIPAA law, protecting PHI (Personal Health Information)? As a medical professional myself, we MUST follow HIPPA law. It is easily done by, turning off computers monitors and/or tablets, covering papers or moving them out of sight. Not by committing crimes and endangering people. Yes, she endangering everyone in the building, in the town and for miles around. While police and fire services were responding to SimoneCarter’s childish temper tantrum. These emergency services were unavailable for several hours to respond to real emergencies. The police should have done their job and arrested her on the spot. No one is above the law.
Now you’re attacking a person who paid his debt to society. A person who turned his life around and now working to teach government officials the law and about our constitutionally protected rights. You’re part of the problem, helping government officials cover up their crimes.
What you should be asking:
1) Why wasn’t Simone Carter arrested on the spot? When she was caught on video deliberately pulling a fire alarm, and acknowledged that she pulled the ararm.
2) Why did police officers refuse to do their job?
3) Why did Sgt Bill Burchard REFUSE to look at the video evidence?
4) Why was it called a ‘unintentional pull and activation’ when it was deliberately done?
5) Why is the town trying to cover up crimes committed by its employees? What? Laws/Rules for thee, not for me.
You’re a disgrace to journalism. You should be ashamed of yourself. So-called ‘journalist’ like you and the Hopkinton Independent are the reason the public distrust main stream media.
I cannot believe Carter pulled a fire alarm. I’ve never been so embarrassed to see our town in the news.w
I guess pulling fire alarms in Hopkinton for any reason is ok. If this nurse is not charged, any good lawyer could get off someone who does the same. This is a really bad look for this town.
Nothing surprises me any more about this Town.
Do we really need additional training for town employees? If everyone did their job we would all be better off.
I guess if you know the right people you can get away with anything–even a law that is pounded into peoples’ minds starting at the age of 4. The video evidence is particularly egregious. Smiling while pulling the alarm.
DO NOT COME INTO OUR TOWN AND HOLD US ACCOUNTABLE!!! THEY NEED TO LEAVE
Arrogant, feeling entitled, high connections, feeling privileged , rude, reckless, headstrong. Typical qualities of bluest of blue state and blue town employee. Some things won’t change. They say one thing outside an do different when no one watching . But don’t forget there is a God and Karma