This Kind of Selfie Could Get You Arrested (No, Not Duck Face)

As every avid Facebook/Instagram/Twitter user knows, there are a bunch of different types of selfies.

There’s the Look at My New Hair Cut selfie. There’s the Here’s What I’m Having for Dinner Selfie, and the Out with My Friends Selfie – and the much-maligned Duck Face Selfie.

Seemingly new to the scene is the I Just Committed a Crime Selfie. And take it from this criminal defense lawyer, that’s worse than any number of duck face poses.

You’d think that would be self-explanatory, right? I mean, you don’t exactly need a criminal defense attorney to tell you that posting selfies when you are actively being pursued by police is kind of a bad idea.

But alas, this is why people need Pittsburgh Criminal Defense Lawyer: Because they just don’t get it.

Which brings me to 22-year-old Donald Harrison.

Mr. Harrison, of Beaver County, posted a selfie as he sat on a Greyhound bus in Pittsburgh recently. He captioned it, “IT’S TIME TO LEAVE PA.” The problem for Mr. Harrison, of course, was that he was allegedly attempting to flee assault charges.

Police, who weren’t able to catch up with Harrison immediately following alleged assault of a woman in her apartment, noticed the selfie on Facebook, along with a message indicating he was traveling back to his hometown in South Carolina.

This story ends with police stopping the Greyhound bus on which Mr. Harrison was a passenger, where he was taken into custody near Youngstown, Ohio.

While the moral of most stories should always be, “Don’t do illegal stuff,” that ship had seemingly already sailed for Mr. Harrison.

So the moral of his story? If you’ve already done something for which you will likely be charged criminally, don’t post a selfie telling people about what you did, etc., and then NOT think that the police aren’t gonna find it.

Social media has made the world a smaller place, and has added a new dimension for police to investigate. And, police are finding that using Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites is helping them solve more crimes.

Of course, thoughtless criminals posting selfies makes it easier.

Still, social media allows officers to see a person’s connections – their family, friends, and often, coworkers. By monitoring a criminal’s account, the authorities can find proof of wrongdoing as well as identify accomplices, and can locate the ones who got away.

All this raises the question of privacy, of course. Unless a person’s Facebook profile is wide open, cops will need to hack into the account or request access from Facebook itself. The courts will spend a lot of time in the future, refining what is and is not permissible for police departments to do in this arena.

And if you are compelled to call the police to admit your illegal activity, do yourself a favor and call a Pittsburgh Criminal Lawyer before you do – you will thank me later.

All kinds of criminal charges from fraud, theft, and domestic violence, child abuse to traffic violations, DUI charges, and drug crimes have very severe consequences with harsh penalties. Pennsylvania laws are quite strict for all of these serious criminal charges and do not discriminate on the basis of status and authority. Such serious convictions can prove to be detrimental for the rest of your life. All your criminal offenses are permanently put on your criminal record, which is often accessible to the public. If these crucial details of your life happen to reach the graduate school you are applying to, or if your future employers seek such information, it might cause an impending doom on your future. Besides, you will have to face substantial fines and considerable jail time.

So, it is always better to resort to a committed, reliable, and experienced Pittsburgh Criminal Lawyer who understands your case and will go to any extent in order to fight for your rights and privileges.