Local Officer Goes Viral With the Fake Arrest of "Barry Larry Terry"
In June 2017, a police officer from Moulton, Alabama, unwittingly became an internet sensation when, as a joke, he inserted a fake mug shot and arrest record into a listing of authentic ones.
Officer Russell Graham, who is one of Moulton’s nine police officers, intended the fake arrest record to be humorous joke for local citizens, but he was surprised when his post went viral.
The post has since been removed from the Moulton Police Department’s Facebook page, but not before it generated over 6,000 shares and more likes than the entire city’s population, according to Rare.
“It just looked humorous to me, there were several that I went through and I said, ‘there’s our guy,'” he said about the mug shot.
As for the perp’s name, he explained, “I can’t tell you where it came from… I was just like, ‘That looks like a Barry Larry Terry.'”
When asked his motive behind the joke post, Graham explained, “Across the world law enforcement officers are seen in a bad light. They’re seen as robots, so to speak, supposed to be serious. We were trying to project a little humor, and hopefully build a little rapport with the citizens that come across the page.”
You can watch the full interview below:
The fictitious “Barry Larry Terry” was cited as committing two crimes: “unlawful possession of a wild raccoon” and “no headlamp on bicycle.”
It is, in fact, a crime in the state of Alabama to possess a raccoon of any species, whether wild or domesticated, according to Chapter 220-2-.26 of the Alabama Administrative Code.
And although Officer Graham seemed unsure, it is indeed a crime to ride a bicycle at night without a functioning headlamp, per Section 32-5A-265.
There’s been no word on the disposition of Terry’s bicycle, but the Moulton Police Department did provide a tongue-in-cheek update regarding his erstwhile pet:
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