Ex-Terryville firefighter Amelia Flavin fights dismissal from department after ICE-related Facebook post

A Suffolk County fire department fired a volunteer firefighter in August after she made an ICE-related Facebook comment that officials said reflected poorly on them.

Now the firefighter is suing the Terryville Fire Department in federal court, alleging it violated her free speech rights and wrongfully kicked her out.

The dispute over the civil unrest caused by the Trump administration's immigration policy raises questions about whether a fire department can bar volunteers from commenting from personal social media accounts that also identify their affiliation with a taxpayer-funded agency.

The firefighter, Amelia Flavin, 38, of East Patchogue, said in her lawsuit she "was speaking as a citizen" when she commented on a Fox News Facebook post in January about border czar Tom Homan arriving in Minneapolis after the killings of two of that city's residents by federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Using a Facebook account under her maiden name that lists the Terryville Fire District under employment, Flavin wrote: "According to a former police/ice raid member, the thing raiders are most worried about is: Water balloons filled with black paint, oil and a bit of sand. It can cover drivers [sic] windshields, goggles and oil is ignited from a spark. It’s nonlethal and not considered a weapon. Just a tip I’ve read in a comment somewhere"

In an interview with Newsday, Flavin noted that she said she viewed her comment as "bipartisan."

"I’m not trying to incite rioters," said Flavin, who had been a Terryville firefighter since 2016. "You know, that wasn’t my intent. ... I just wanted it to be known that that was being done because at the end of the day, ICE or rioters, I don’t want anybody to get hurt."

The Port Jefferson Station-based department’s chief, Ed Simonetti, launched an investigation after he received two emails that day complaining about the post, according to fire department records Newsday obtained via a public records request.

Two days later, Simonetti determined that Flavin’s post called for her removal from the fire department. He wrote the post "did not reflect the values or professionalism required of its firefighters" and that Flavin hurt the fire department’s reputation by identifying herself as a Terryville firefighter on her Facebook page.

The chief said another post on her Facebook page, in which she referred to Kyle Rittenhouse by a derogatory term, also violated the department's social media policy. Rittenhouse — acquitted of shooting three men, two fatally, during civil unrest in Wisconsin in 2020 — has become a celebrated figure in conservative politics.

Simonetti declined to comment, citing the pending litigation. The chairman of Terryville’s Board of Fire Commissioners, William Theis, also declined to comment, said Terryville district manager Anthony Barton.

Hearing officer sides with department

Flavin said she received a letter on Feb. 1 stating she had been terminated. At that time she already had been suspended for an unrelated matter, records show, though the documents do not state a reason.

Flavin said in an interview the department suspended her for speaking sharply to the son of a commissioner. Representatives for the fire district did not respond to requests to specify why she had been suspended. Those claims are not a part of the department's case to fire Flavin.

A hearing officer appointed by the fire district to preside over the department’s case to remove Flavin from the volunteer firefighter ranks determined in August that firing her "is consistent with the principles of fairness and is an appropriate punishment," records show.

The hearing officer, attorney Brian A. Murphy, wrote in his 16-page report that Flavin’s comment "instructed people on how to create weapons to be used against United States ICE Agents" and he said that "undermines the quasi-military nature of the Terryville Fire Department, is independently outrageous, and cannot be condoned, endorsed or tolerated."

Calling the comments "outrageous and extremely offensive to many," Murphy added that "a reasonable person could easily attribute her statements as those of her purported employer — the Terryville Fire Department."

A reasonable person could easily attribute her statements as those of her purported employer.

— Attorney Brian A. Murphy, in a case report

Newsday obtained a copy of Murphy’s report from the fire department in response to a Freedom of Information Law request. He upheld all 12 charges the department brought against Flavin for her Facebook post.

Murphy, of Northport, said by email: "I stand behind my Report and Recommendation that I prepared for the Fire District." He declined any further comment.

'Huge leap to make'

First Amendment experts said Murphy’s report exaggerated the importance of Flavin’s reference to the fire department on her profile.

"You see over and over in this hearing decision the fact that she identified herself as an employee of the department led people to believe she was speaking for the department, and I think that’s a huge leap to make," said Clare Norins, director of the University of Georgia School of Law’s First Amendment Clinic.

Norins said the hearing report also overstated the potential harm the fire department suffered as a result of the comment. Although Murphy’s report said "it is self-evident that her statements were outrageous and extremely offensive to many," Norins said the only evidence is two emails.

"That doesn’t really show any sort of disruption of the fire department’s operations," she said, noting that’s an important factor courts weigh when balancing a person’s rights to free speech with the employer’s interests.

Norins said she read Flavin’s comment several times "because I wasn't sure what her perspective was," and ultimately decided that the comment is ambiguous and "subject to people’s sort of subjective interpretations." But she said that's beyond what a court would consider in a free-speech case.

Eric M. Freedman, a Hofstra Law School professor emeritus who specializes in the First Amendment, added the fact that Flavin’s comment discussed ICE at such a highly charged moment concerning many American citizens — amid intense protests in Minneapolis — is "very helpful" to her case.

The Fox News Facebook post generated more than 3,600 comments in addition to Flavin’s, ranging from emojis, Trump memes and sharply worded one liners expressing both support and opposition of the ICE deportation efforts.

Flavin’s comment alone sparked another four dozen responses.

Complaints to department

One woman, Charlotte Syzdek, took note of Flavin’s status as a Terryville firefighter and said the department "needs to be aware of your comment." She then added in a second comment: "I reported it. Everyone should." According to Syzdek's Facebook profile, she lives in New Mexico and lists her occupation as "Boss at master of my own self."

Records show she was one of two people to report Flavin to her department. She wrote Simonetti that she was "deeply disturbed" by Flavin’s post, adding that "firefighters should be on the side of law enforcement, not criminals."

Simonetti replied to Syzdek, asking for screenshots of the post, which she provided, sparking Simonetti’s investigation.

Syzdek did not return messages seeking comment.

Now, two months after Murphy’s report confirmed the department’s termination, Flavin said she still does not understand why the department took it this far. She said she already was in the process of moving out of the district, and by extension joining another fire department.

"I just feel like they needed a reason to push me out," said Flavin, who is married with a son, 10, and a daughter, 4, and works part time at a catering company in Setauket.

The First Amendment applies. It doesn't stop at the firehouse doors.

— Matthew Weinick, attorney representing Amelia Flavin

Her Melville-based attorney, Matthew Weinick, added: "The First Amendment applies. It doesn't stop at the firehouse doors."

The fire department, however, believed Flavin's post caused harm in their North Shore community.

"Any punishment less than dismissal would send the wrong message to other Terryville Fire Department members, to other fire departments supporting local neighboring communities, and to the communities that the Terryville Fire Department serves," Murphy's report stated.