People take Facebook postings very seriously. Sometimes to excess, like reacting violently to posts. That led to a stabbing in Toledo, Ohio this week, according to an NBC affiliate there.
Aaron Calhoun wound up in Toldeo Hospital with non-life-threatening injuries after 20-year-old Taresa O’Neal hit him with a frying pan and followed that up with a stabbing.
The 25-year-old Calhoun had gone to O’Neal’s home upset about a Facebook posting concerning his sister.
Calhoun was attacked by O’Neal and her male partner, who were both arrested afterward.
I suspect they’ve gotten some good legal advice in the mean time. Repeated searches for posts including the aforementioned names, plus Toledo, don’t turn up.
O’Neal may have had some amount of privacy protection cloaking her Facebook posts before the fight broke out, but she probably got more conservative with her profile after the arrest.
That assumes she and her partner got released on bail. If not, she could have shared her Facebook password with an attorney or family member via telephone or in person visit.
But these details aren’t as interesting as the fact that a real-world fight broke out over an online post. Usually fisticuffs erupt from real-world provocation, and law enforcement efforts to keep the peace happen offline.
A fight that begins online might beg the question: Should the cops police social networks to anticipate potential violence in the real world? Readers, do you think we’ll see more fights that start on Facebook and become in-person brawls? How can law enforcement nip this problem in the bud?
Source: All Facebook
Monday, November 29, 2010