'Let the memes begin,' police say on Facebook. The naked guy's brother isn't amused
Tiron Billups is facing a public intoxication charge after police in Palestine say he climbed on the hood of a patrol car, naked and under the influence of an unknown substance.
Well, they don't just say he did it. There's a photo, which was apparently snapped by a bystander, then posted to the Palestine Police Department Facebook page.
It certainly made for an interesting start to the week for Cpl. Mike Miller and Sgt. Brian Lintner, who happened upon the naked Billups as he walked down a street in town.
According to the Palestine Press-Herald, when the pair confronted Billups, he ran and jumped on the hood of their patrol car.
Miller and Lintner talked Billups down and he was taken to the Anderson County Jail without further incident.
But the original wording of the police Facebook post has been getting almost as much attention in the comments section as the unusual nature of the crime. In the original post, at 1:49 p.m., the post included the caption, "Let the memes begin."
A little more than an hour later, the comment about memes was deleted.
Billups' brother, Joque Billups, said in a comment that it was "tacky" and "pathetic" for police to bring up memes over the arrest.
Some agreed, while others defended the police's original wording as "having a sense of humor about things."
It escalated from there.
"You're right, addiction is a horrible thing," the police account said in response to other complaints about the appropriateness of bringing humor into the situation. "The memes weren't being requested, but expected in this crazy world we live in. ... The wording was not the best and we should be better than that. PPD is simply trying to provide information directly to you since you will see it everywhere else. Valid points made here."
Palestine police Chief Andy Harvey told the Star-Telegram via email that "we only posted the photo after a passerby took a picture of it happening and it went viral. PPD thought it was best to share it as well so our residents can hear directly from us.
"If nothing else, this post created some good dialogue, and that's always a good thing."
The police post had been shared 261 times on Facebook as of Tuesday morning.
Matthew Martinez: 817-390-7667; @MCTinez817
This story was originally published February 13, 2018 at 8:11 AM with the headline "'Let the memes begin,' police say on Facebook. The naked guy's brother isn't amused."