Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
World
Ryan Parker

BRIEF: CNN's #AskACop hashtag backfires, elicits brutal responses

Dec. 17--A hashtag about asking police officers questions for a CNN panel turned extremely negative almost as soon as it was posted Tuesday.

#AskACop was meant to be used by viewers who wanted to tweet questions to officers for the town hall segment "Cops Under Fire," hosted by Don Lemon.

There was an overwhelming response -- most of which were criticisms toward police.

Some examples: "do you think dogs would make better cops, i mean they are color blind..." and "so, do you beat your wife and/or kids before or after you murder an unarmed citizen? just wonderin'"

In the wake of the deaths of Michael Brown, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner, distrust and animosity toward police is running high, at least in some quarters. Those feelings were made clear in tweets toward police, many of which were brutal.

By the time the show aired at 7 p.m., #AskACop was one of the highest Twitter trends in the U.S.

Follow Ryan Parker for breaking news at @theryanparker and on Facebook.

UPDATES

8:20 p.m.: This story has been updated with some sample tweets.

This story was originally published at 8:12 p.m.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.