Facebook is quickly becoming a hot bed for police investigations. Borderline “Status Updates” have led police to many individuals who have and are planning to do criminal things. There is no way to tell if this was a status update that really held criminal intents, but faculty at the University thought it was. If there is a lesson to be learned it is: be careful what you use for your status update, especially when venting.
Amanda Tatro was banned from campus because three instructors in the mortuary science program felt threatened after being made aware of her Facebook posts, prompting a police investigation.
Student banned from U after Facebook posts.
The University of Minnesota mortuary science student was upset and angry after breaking up with her boyfriend, and told her Facebook friends that she was “looking forward to Monday’s embalming therapy. … Give me room, lots of aggression to be taken out with a trocar [a sharp surgical instrument used in embalming].”
Now she’s banned from campus because three instructors in the mortuary science program felt threatened after being made aware of her Facebook posts, prompting a police investigation.
According to the police report, Amanda Tatro, 29, followed her first posting with one that read: “I still want to stab a certain someone in the throat with a trocar though. Hmmm … perhaps I will spend the evening updating my ‘Death List #5’ and making friends with the crematory guy. I do know the code …”
“Death List #5” is a reference to the movie “Kill Bill.”
When Tatro got to class Monday, she was patted down and questioned by University of Minnesota police.
The instructors had shared their concerns with police, with one saying that she “did not feel comfortable having [the student] in the lab due to the remarks on Facebook,” according to the police report.
Tatro told police that the posts were “just me venting,” she said. “I got dumped, which is never a nice thing. I was bitter and really angry about it. For whatever reason, this professor took it personally.”
Police are not filing charges and consider the matter closed, U spokesman Daniel Wolter said by e-mail.
Privacy law prevents the U from commenting on the specifics of Tatro’s case, but Wolter said that “in a case such as this, the case is typically referred to our Office for Student Conduct and Academic Integrity, which will interview the student, review evidence and make some kind of finding.”
It’s hardly the first time a posting on the popular social media site has led to police being alerted. Nationwide, more dire threats have led to charges.
Source: Star Tribune
