Woman says Hazel Park cop spied on her nursing with baby nest cam

Image 1 of 6

Photo art depicts nest cam which was allegedly turned on remotely to spy on the woman and her child, at right.

A woman accuses a Hazel Park police officer of a gross violation of privacy.

She says the officer used a baby monitoring device to spy on some of her most intimate moments.  As a dispatcher for the Warren Police Department, this woman said it was very difficult to make these accusations against a fellow member of law enforcement - but she felt she had no choice.

"I was in shock, devastated, angry," she said.

It is the last thing this woman ever expected. She claims a Hazel Park police officer was spying on her while she was nursing her baby naked inside her own home.

"This is such a serious violation of my family's privacy including myself and my son, she said. “It is absolutely necessary to take this action to prevent this from happening to future individuals.

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday, she says it all started when the father of her infant son, who is a licensed medical marijuana caregiver, was arrested on drug charges.

Using a search warrant, Officer Michael Emmi confiscated his iPhone and also searched the couple's house where they have a baby monitor - a nest cam set up in the nursery.

She claims on two occasions while breastfeeding her son naked; she noticed the light on the nest cam blinking, which means it was being watched remotely.

The only electronic device hooked up to the nest cam at the time was her fiancé’s cell phone. He was in jail and his iPhone had been taken into evidence.

"She screamed out 'Oh my God they are watching me again' or something to that effect to her brother who she was talking to on the cellphone," said Kevin Ernst, her attorney. "Again she was nursing her child and again she was naked and so was her child. And shortly after she yelled that out, the light stopped blinking."

The woman immediately used the app "Find My iPhone” and she says she traced her fiancé’s phone to Officer Michael Emmi's home address. She says she confirmed it by using county real estate records. He is the same officer who confiscated the phone.

"How does a piece of evidence end up in somebody's private home," said Ernst.

Hazel Park Police Chief Martin Barner confirmed Emmi is a 15-year veteran with the department. Because there is no criminal complaints, there is no internal investigation and the officer has not been suspended.

However, the chief plans to look into the allegations he calls "questionable at best.”

"It is really frightening," Ernst said. "It is the most despicable thing you can do and it is such an abuse of authority."

Currently the woman and her attorney are just legally going after the office but they claim as the case develops they plan to go after others, including the Hazel Park Police Department.