Reader Dave asked in comments if I had any thoughts on this story.
The basic facts: During the height of the covid strangeness (March 2020) our plaintiff made a silly-assed joke on Facebook.
SHARE SHARE SHARE ! ! ! ! JUST IN: RAPIDES PARISH SHERIFFS OFFICE HAVE ISSUED THE ORDER, IF DEPUTIES COME INTO CONTACT WITH ‘THE INFECTED’ SHOOT ON SIGHT….Lord have mercy on us all. #Covid9teen #weneedyoubradpitt.
The Sheriff's office got hold of the post, and our plaintiff was paid a visit by the local SWAT team. He was arrested and charged with terrorizing. There is now a civil suit pending in the local court, where our plaintiff is suing the Sheriff's office over various infringements.
Do I have any thoughts? I would probably have handled it differently. My first inclination would have been to ignore the whole thing and write it off as Facebook nonsense. My second inclination would be to do a knock-and-talk. My very last option would have been to call out the SWAT team.
Dave also said in comments that he couldn't find my email address. I looked in my profile and it's hidden there as plain as day. But, I'll put it here in plain English. ddezendorf at yahoo dot com. All spambots must die.
3 comments:
Some folks were a 'tad' touchy back then...
Its sad how warped and messed up our world has become. I'd hate to think this is 'progress'.
Agree with you, maybe a friendly chit-chat with one of the boys in blue would be as far as this should have gone. However I heard it from a cop: lets say I go to his house and talk to him explaining why we don't like violent threats on facebook, and then leave. So he then decides to take it out on his wife/girlfriend/children. Or he says 'they're on to me!' and decides today is the day he goes postal, or... now my precint is being sued into oblivion. Because I didn't think we really needed to roll out the SWAT team.
Now its a bit extreme of circumstances, but I see his point, and unfortunately he's not wrong. Our world is just that fucked up....
I agree with ignoring it, or posting a snarky response to it... It just Facebook and makes no threat to violence; where's the crime other than idiocy?
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