Wednesday, August 02, 2017

Brothers of Investigator Josh Hastings Engage In Cyberbullying in Megan Rondini Rape Case - Donald V. Watkins


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Brothers of Investigator Josh Hastings Engage In Cyberbullying in Megan Rondini Rape Case
By Donald V. Watkins
©Copyrighted and Published (via Facebook) on August 2, 2017
Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Department investigator Josh Hastings made history when his July 6, 2015 videotaped interview of accused rapist Terry Jackson "Sweet T" Bunn, Jr., was made public in a June 22, 2017 article published by BuzzFeed News that featured the Megan Rondini rape case. Megan was the University of Alabama honors student who committed suicide after Sweet T escaped prosecution in her rape case.
The videotape showed Hastings, who was assigned to investigate Megan's rape case, openly ingratiating himself to Sweet T during the interview. Instead of conducting a hard interrogation of Sweet T about the alleged rape, Hastings emerged on videotape as an apologist for the accused.
Josh Hastings is a public official. The video in question is online and speaks for itself.
After the Bunn family released its attack ad against Megan and her family last week, Josh Hastings' two brothers – Jordan and Jerrod – went on a cyberbullying spree in which they made a series of intimidating and threatening statements to one of Megan Rondini's most vocal supporters. The woman was the victim of a rape years ago by the son of a prominent family in Tuscaloosa. The Hastings brothers' cyberbullying of her intensified after the London-based Daily Mail published a story yesterday on Megan's rape case.
At no point during their online cyberbullying, do the Hastings brothers explain, privately or publicly, why brother Josh Hastings was "sucking up" to Sweet T during his police interview. Also, the brothers do not explain Josh Hastings' failure to follow basic police work while investigating Megan's rape case. Finally, they do not explain Josh's prolific use of leading questions that suggested the answers he needed Sweet T to give in order to clear him of Megan's rape charge.
The Hastings brothers' cyberbullying constitutes an extension of the character assassination launched last week in the Bunn family's attack ad on Megan and her family. This "attack the victim" response seems to be embedded in the local culture.
I do not understand the propensity of men like Sweet T and the Hastings brothers to attack and cyberbully women. I also do not understand why Tuscaloosa law enforcement officials in positions of authority to stop cyberbullying do not reign in this type of inappropriate conduct.


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