Finding and informing next-of-kin after an accidental death can be a difficult thing for police departments to do. So, using Facebook is understandable as a communication method.
On the other hand, you do have to wonder who rubber-stamped the idea of using a Facebook profile called Misty Hancock with a photo of T.I. as the contact. Really, guys? That didn’t come off as a little callous to you?
Making matters worse, Anna Lamb-Creasey, the mother of Rickie Lamb, didn’t know he was dead for nearly a month thanks to this method:
Lamb-Creasey had no idea her son had died when a driver hit him as he crossed Tara Boulevard and Old Dixie road Jan. 24 around 11 p.m. The driver wasn’t ticketed. Then, on Valentine’s Day, some 20 days after Lamb went missing, Lamb-Creasey’s daughter called the number on the Misty Hancock page and an officer gave her the bad news. He was trying to reach them to tell them Lamb had died.
Not unreasonably, Lamb-Creasey is upset the police couldn’t be bothered to A) use an official Facebook page and B) dig a little harder than “Oh, look, this woman is listed as his mom on Facebook!” She notes she’s had the same job for more than a decade, for example.
The Clayton County PD, for their part, insist they tried several methods of finding next of kin and none of them panned out. Somehow we suspect they’re going to have to try and prove that one in court.