The attorney, who worked for a bankruptcy firm, apparently logged on to Facebook Wednesday, January 20 while stuck in Interstate traffic during an early morning winter storm. We've all been there - creeping along, or fully stopped, behind other drivers dealing with icy conditions.
Sadly, the traffic jam was caused by an accident which claimed the life of a corrections officer. Many people in the vicinity around southern Illinois knew this 22-year-old man. He was taking a 17-year-old male to a juvenile court appearance just before 8 a.m. and lost control of the transport van. According to The Register-News, the driver lost control on an extremely slick and snow-covered part of the highway, spun out and crossed the highway median. The van then slid into the path of a semi-tractor trailer and the vehicles collided. I assume the truck tried its best to stop, since it is reported the truck jackknifed.
The prisoner was hospitalized with severe injuries and the driver of the van died. Icy conditions caused five wrecks that morning. The attorney, stuck in traffic that morning, started his rant on Facebook from his car, assumably from his cell phone. Was he texting and driving as well? I don't know. Reportedly he blasted the driver who lost his life, and also police and EMS. The attorney criticized the driver for not slowing down, and also said of him "he might as well have been shouting Allah Akbar" - how bizarre.
Apparently, many people must have read his posts. At some point, he posted an update stating the driver who was killed was "rotting in hell." Residents reading the posts were so outraged, within two hours of reading this, people were planning a public protest. By last Friday, citizens were standing in front of the man's place of employment, in the snow, demanding an apology from the man. The town's newspaper printed a photo of this protest on the paper's front page with a caption that read "Say No Evil".
Standing on snow-lined streets, a group of citizens hoisted hand-made picket signs. They told a reporter they were braving the cold in support of law enforcement and to honor the dead officer.
The lawyer made an appearance to publicly apologize. According to the newspaper report, he regretted what he had done and made mention of we shouldn't post things under angry circumstances. Apparently, the damage had already been done and the apology came too late, or was not well received. Once it has been said, it's out there. A person has a hard time getting it back once that button has been pushed.
The attorney later either resigned, under pressure or not, or was fired. However it happened, he quickly lost his job because of this. "People need to learn what you post on Facebook has consequences," one protester said. A supervisor came out to talk to protesters, saying the person "is not a bad person, he made a bad decision...this spiraled out of control...there is no excuse for what he said."
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