Police Get Social Media Help To Track Down Assault Suspects

By James Boyle

The effort to identify a group of twentysomethings suspected of assaulting two gay men on a Philadelphia sidewalk has brought together the traditional, crime scene policework and the dogged determination of angry Internet sleuths.

According to Philly.com, the Philadelphia police department released video from the incident that occurred last Thursday at around 10:45 p.m. According to police, the two men bumped into a crowd of about a dozen young men and women on the 1600 block of Chancellor Street. Reports say that members of the group began to make disparaging remarks about their sexuality before attacking both men. The victims were sent to Hahnemann University Hospital with severe injuries.

After the release of the video, an anonymous Twitter user managed to find a photo of the group dining at a nearby restaurant, taken the same night and posted to some of the suspects’ personal Facebook accounts. No arrests have been made, yet, but the evidence uncovered by the social media users has become part of the investigation, 6abc.com reports.

See the video here.