Assailants Of Gay Couple Identified Via Facebook Check-ins And Tweets

A couple of days ago, a Philadelphia gay couple became the latest hate crime victims to suffer from hateful bigots. The lovers were on their way to dinner when a group of intoxicated men and women approached them and hurled gay slurs at them. There was a short exchange of words between the parties. They were then beaten and kicked in the head, face and chest. They suffered serious physical injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital. They were discharged from the hospital with multiple facial fractures. One of them has severe bruising on his face and will need to have his jaw wired shut for two months.

The police department was able to release a video of the suspects taken from surveillance cameras in the area. They were able to send out this video in an effort to bring light to the situation.

                     

As it turns out, social media was of great help to solve this mystery. The footage was used by smart netizens to identify the assailants trough tweet and check-ins on Facebook. User @GreggyBennett was able to get what appears as a group shot of the suspects taken before the incident. He apparently got the photo from a "friend of a friend of a friend." He posted the collage on Twitter, not knowing where the photo was taken exactly.

Another Twitter user, @FanSince09, also re-tweeted the photo and got several responses that helped him gather more information about the identities of the people in the party. He was told that the photo was taken at a restaurant called La Viola. We was also able to cross check the names of the people in the photo by tracking their Facebook check-ins.

Amazing what modern day technology and vigilant citizens can do to help solve crimes nowadays. It's like we have eyes everywhere. Hopefully, this deters would be criminals from doing terrible things to other people. 

Like any other decent human being, my initial reaction to this whole ordeal was one of utter disbelief and disgust.  I wanted to participate in the search party and slap each and every one of these scoundrels in the face if I could. Further violence, however, is not a solution to violence. This is why we have our justice system in place. I hope that this development would result to the litigation and punishment of the attackers. Should they be found guilty, an example needs to be set in order to prevent similar cases in the future.