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Perp Beats Cop After Catching Questionable Facebooking
By
Billy Parker
Published Mar 11, 2009
Modified Mar 11, 2009
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By
Billy Parker
Published Mar 11, 2009
Modified Mar 11, 2009
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An ex-con arrested for possession of a weapon was able to beat the rap by using the arresting officer's MySpace and Facebook statuses against him. During the trial, Officer Vaughan Etienne had to explain why his MySpace mood was set to "Devious" on the day of the arrest and why his Facebook status was “Vaughan is watching ‘Training Day’ to brush up on proper police procedure” as the trial approached. The nail in the coffin for the officer though was probably some online comments he had left on an arrest video that included, "If he wanted to tune him up some, he should have delayed cuffing him... If you were going to hit a cuffed suspect, at least get your money’s worth ’cause now he’s going to get disciplined for a faggot-ass love tap." Etienne, who had previously been suspended for steroid usage, told the Times, “What you say on the Internet is all bravado talk, like what you say in a locker room.” Recently it was revealed that the NYPD is drilling their trainees on what not to put online after catching cadets flashing gang signs in profile pics.
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