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A Local Twitterer and a guy from the Real Housewives of New Jersey May Have Solved a Hate Crime
By Jim Adair
Published:
http://youtu.be/KD8MglUjA50
Just less than a week ago in Center City, two gay men were jumped and beaten by a group of people for being gay. They were kicked in the head, chest and face, and their resulting injuries required surgery. The perpetrators of this hate crime went unfound for a few days, until the Philadelphia Police Department released fairly grainy security camera video that shows the group allegedly responsible for the attack. What happened next is sort of amazing.
As you can see in the Storify after the jump, via Melody Kramer, Greg Bennett — who plays a small role on the Real Housewives of New Jersey — posted a picture he believed was of the offending group earlier, taken earlier on the night of the attack. That image was then retweeted by @FanSince09 (who may be familiar to you), whose followers helped identify the restaurant– La Viola. He then used that information to check Facebook check-ins, identify some members of the group, and contact the police. No arrests have been made yet, but they probably will be soon.
This is a big win for social media, showing that anyone can track down criminals from grainy security camera footage if you’ve got enough followers, the will to do enough hard work, and some Real Housewives-connections. I think that last part is what keeps the police from getting it done this way.
Full story, as it played out on Twitter, after the jump.
http://storify.com/mkramer/how-twitter-tracked-down-the-suspects-from-a-ppd-v
When he's not writing about sports here or ranting about them on Twitter, Jim is probably watching X-Files on Netflix or drinking a beer somewhere. Jim has nothing against hockey, it's just not his style. He once met Duce Staley at a Sixers game.