TAVARES, Fla. – Social media websites such as Facebook and Twitter have become a very useful tool for sharing news, events, and gossip for most Americans these days. But for Tavares Police Department, it has become a tool to show its residents that officers have a sense of humor too.
The department, most known for its witty weekday Facebook hashtags such as #TurnEmInTuesday, #MaybeYouShouldntBreakTheLawMonday, #FindHimForUsFriday and many others, have utilized their Facebook fan page to report news, upcoming events, and even to track down fugitives with warrants.
The officer who manages the social media page published one post in particular that began a viral comment thread.
The original post, published on September 30, 2017, showed a jailhouse photo of 26-year-old Damon Merceus who was wanted for failing to appear in court on a possession of cannabis charge.
Along with the photo, the post included one of their trendy hashtags and stated, “#WhereTheyAtWednesday Mr. Damon Marcus has an active warrant for his arrest, let us know where we can find him!”
Merceus was held without bond at the Lake County Jail until his next court appearance on October 12, 2017, where he was sentenced to two years of probation and released from jail.
On the same day, Merceus replied to Tavares Police Department’s post with a photo of himself captioned, “Back like I left sumthin [somthing]..”
The department was also quick to respond. Just a minute after his post, Tavares Police Department replied, “You get it cleared up or do you need us to give you a free ride to the Lake Co. Jail?”
The post then began to go viral locally with residents commenting and tagging their friends. Some Facebook users even carried conversations with Merceus while others laughed at his seemingly taunting photo comment not knowing that Merceus had already served his time for the warrant.
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