A United Kingdom police department has come under fire, drawing the mocking wrath of social media after tweeting out their desire to find a man who was accused of kissing a woman on the cheek after she came to his assistance when his truck got stuck under a bridge.
Since the Twitter backlash, the department appears to have deleted the tweet after garnering significant attention.
The Tweet initially read: “We are appealing for help to identify a man who kissed a woman on the cheek to thank her for helping when his lorry became stuck under a low bridge.
“Were you in the area of Dale Road, Matlock, between 12pm and 4pm on Tuesday, 28 April?”
When commenters picked after the manhunt, the Derbyshire Police department doubled down on their tweet–before deleting it–saying that the truck driver’s actions “would be classed as a sexual assault as the woman did not want the man to kiss her on the cheek.”
Why have @DerbysPolice suddenly deleted this tweet? 🤔 pic.twitter.com/7cKhUbUd4o
— Dr Adam Aneevit (@DrAdamAneevit) May 16, 2020
One commented: “Sounds like the actions of a friendly and jovial old school gentleman. I very much doubt it was anything other than an instinctive response. A normal person is being demonised here, and it makes me uncomfortable.”
“Jesus their top investigators better dance their way onto that case,” remarked another account to a screenshot of the original tweet.
A third wrote: “Thank goodness that the man didn’t call her “sweety” or “love.” The kiss does indicate that the man also assumed her gender. Find him now, before he strikes again.”
Derbyshire Police has come under fire on social media for a variety of tweets, ranging from Orwellian hyper-surveillance to enforce Covid-19 social distancing to progressive virtue signaling.
In a tweet that alarmed many, the Derbyshire Police department showed off a drone they had deployed to survey the countryside during the global pandemic.
They wrote: “Despite posts yesterday highlighting issues of people still visiting the #PeakDistrict despite government guidance, the message is still not getting through. @DerPolDroneUnit have been out at beauty spots across the county, and this footage was captured at #CurbarEdge last night.”
Despite posts yesterday highlighting issues of people still visiting the #PeakDistrict despite government guidance, the message is still not getting through. @DerPolDroneUnit have been out at beauty spots across the county, and this footage was captured at #CurbarEdge last night. pic.twitter.com/soxWvMl0ls
— Derbyshire Police (@DerbysPolice) March 26, 2020
Derbyshire’s Police Deputy Chief Constable Rachel Swann was mocked on social media last year after appearing on television sporting an unusual haircut.
Deputy Chief Constable of Derbyshire Police, Rachel Swann, who is leading the safety operation at Whaley Bridge, has been criticised – over her hairstyle
People are more outraged at her hairstyle than they are the bad flood defences at Whaley Bridge dam https://t.co/gdK13isdLX
— Socialist Voice 🌐 (@SocialistVoice) August 7, 2019
Today marks the start of #LGBTHistoryMonth A time to celebrate the LGBT community here in Derbyshire and here in our police service. #ValuingPeopleValuingDifference pic.twitter.com/XprKPxXwke
— Derbys Police: Valuing People, Valuing Difference (@DerbyshireVPVD) February 1, 2018
Since the deletion of the original tweet, several more accounts have tweeted about the trucker’s kiss.
