Police: Tulsa Man Used ‘Facebook Live’ During Stolen Cop Car Joyride
A Tulsa man has been arrested after he allegedly went on a joyride in a stolen police cruiser. However, it’s not simply the theft of the car that is attracting so much attention. CBS News reports that 25-year-old John Pinney made use of a popular social media tool after he allegedly took off in a car that he had no business driving.
The incident reportedly took place on Monday night. An officer with the Tulsa Police Department accidentally left the keys in the ignition of her unlocked cruiser when she took a coffee break. This, unfortunately, presented an opportune situation for the Oklahoma man. Police say that John Pinney got into the cruiser and took off.
A woman called 911 at the time, and told authorities that the Tulsa man asked her if she wanted a ride. When she said no, he sped away in the stolen police cruiser. It didn’t take long for police in the area to close in on the man, and a chase ensued. Authorities say that the man was driving at speeds of higher than 120 miles per hour while trying to outrun them in the stolen cruiser.
The search is on for a thief who took selfie on a stolen phone https://t.co/QCqmyDipqA pic.twitter.com/QmC6e5eWGj
— New York Post Metro (@nypmetro) October 19, 2016
Perhaps the most interesting part of this bizarre case is what John Pinney allegedly did while he was driving the police car that he had just stolen. The Tulsa man allegedly streamed the entire event via Facebook Live — which is a popular tool used to broadcast live video via the social media network. During the live stream of the alleged police car theft, Pinney bragged about what was going on.
“I’m in the cop car. Where’s my sirens at? You hear my sirens? Look, check it out. I can’t even believe that I’m doing this though, for real. I got away from like five cops already.”
The guy may have been having a laugh while joyriding in the stolen cruiser, but authorities say that the Facebook Live videos are now evidence against him. Police Sergeant Steve Stoltz commented publicly about the incident.
“I would encourage every criminal out there to Facebook Live their crimes so that we can catch you a lot easier and use that Facebook Live at your trial to get a better conviction.”
This isn’t the first time someone has carelessly created photographic or video evidence while allegedly committing a crime. In 2014, a Florida man was arrested after he took a selfie with an iPhone that he had allegedly stolen from someone else. New York Daily News reports that 19-year-old Jess Ewald surrendered himself to authorities after the selfie he had taken went viral on social media. The phone thief didn’t realize that his selfie was automatically uploaded to the iCloud server, where the victim of the phone theft was able to see what was happening.
Helpful hint: Don’t take a selfie with a stolen phone, because iCloud exists https://t.co/9sZtqBGUmx pic.twitter.com/TznBScXyaD
— The News & Observer (@newsobserver) October 21, 2016
In fact, that 2014 incident isn’t an isolated event. Numerous people have been arrested for taking selfies with stolen cellphones and tablets. There have also been plenty of arrests associated with recorded assaults. Some of these filmed assaults have gone viral on social media — on such sites as World Star Hip Hop. One popular video showing such an assault is the notorious video of a girl hitting another girl in the head with a shovel. This case attracted even the attention of Dr. Phil McGraw, who had the girls on his show to discuss the incident. The Daily Mail reports that both of the teens in this viral incident were ultimately charged with disorderly conduct.
As for this latest case, John Pinney has been charged with a laundry list of crimes. Police have charged the Tulsa man on at least nine complaints — eluding, resisting arrest, possession of a firearm by a felon, and others. Meanwhile, it’s not known if the police officer who left her keys in the unlocked cruiser will face any discipline over the debacle.
[Featured Image by Schmidt_Alex/Shutterstock]
