TravelingBug
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It seems to me BOTH people did exactly what LE asked them to do.
The poster says, if you have information about his whereabouts, to not attempt to apprehend him themselves, but to call CPD / the tip line / LE.
http://localtvwtvr.files.wordpress.com/2014/09/wanted-poster-no-ss.jpg?w=770&h=880
They weren't showing the wanted poster constantly and disseminating it all over the media hoping that people would see someone they thought was JM and NOT alert LE.
If a person thought they saw someone who looked like him in a food court on a beach at the airport or anywhere else, they did what they were told to do. Alert authorities if they had possible information on his whereabouts.
To be honest, unless I've missed it, I've not even seen anything other than rumors saying the possible fast food/McDonald's thing actually happened or all the details of it, other than a few people saying what they have heard may have happened. Is there truly confirmation anywhere in the media or something saying the entire possible event even did happen or is this all a rumor? :waitasec:
Unless I've missed something while replying, I've not even seen anything definitively say the person said that it was JM on the beach, but rather that it was a suspicious man - or suspicious behavior of the man - who was camping on the beach that had them call in a tip.
Per WTVR:
Per KHOU:
To me that's not clear if they thought it was suspicious someone was camping there period (as in if they shouldn't have been there or didn't seem to have a permit or whatever)? If the person was doing something suspicious that made them feel he was possibly suspicious or up to something? Or if they were suspicious he was actually JM?
If they had no clue it was JM, then LE were very fortunate that someone saw someone else suspicious and it ended up being JM. From the WTRV article, we now know they did know he was in Texas at least, so maybe they were hopeful on a call of a suspicious person calling, even if the tipster didn't connect it.
If the RP thought it might be JM, then LE was also blessed to have an observant citizen who remembered a story regarding a missing person case that began over 1000 miles away, saw someone suspicious despite that person being WAY out of the expected context, or even the states LE alerted the public and agencies he even had context in.
There are hundreds and thousands of people in Charlottesville (and beyond) who saw the video aired for days and didn't realize it was Jesse Matthew, and yet they are friends, family, coworkers, classmates, parishioners, patients, and neighbors of his. People who actually DO know him and/or at least have interacted with him in person didn't connect him with the video in the beginning.
If it truly was someone who recognized him that out of context in Texas and called it in thinking it was JM, and it wasn't just something else about him doing/seeming/acting suspicious, frankly I think the person needs just as much praise as the officer who arrested him got. Though I'm sure the person probably didn't have that cross their mind if they had even realized it was Jesse Matthew.
