The topic of extreme police force aimed at unarmed black men has certainly been in the news, as have stories of some police precincts being less than stellar at using social media. This next story combines both, with police posting an article about an arrest on Facebook, and the suspect himself responding to tell his side of the story.
23-year-old Willie Tatum III, seen above in his very somber mugshot, was arrested after a four hour “standoff” on Sunday. It got rolling when the police responded to a call about a possible domestic violence incident. 10TV in Columbus, Ohio, reported that it started as a “breaking-and-entering situation” which lead to several roads being “shut down as Columbus Police and SWAT surrounded the home. After several hours, police say the situation ended peacefully with Tatum and another man surrendering.”
Wow, that sounds really serious. Now let’s hear how the suspect describes it:
“How do I break in my mom’s house with a key? When I tried to show the police my key, they pulled guns on me and my brother so we stayed inside. The charge changed 3 different times while inside. SWAT for a ‘dv’? Come on now!”
The Columbus Division of Police has since deleted his comment, but we’ve preserved it in amber for future generations. The only thing that could make this better is if the charges of aggravated menacing and domestic violence turned out to be unfounded. Because I do not want to laugh at what somebody says then find out they might abuse people. Not that filth-flarn-filth again.