Police Turn Up At Funeral To Attempt To Unlock Phone

Police Turn up at the funeral of a man they shot to attempt to use his finger to unlock his phone

The US police are rarely known for their tact, but this latest instance is certainly a bit macabre. Linus Phillip was shot by Florida police after reportedly attempting to flee from a pull-over. Having been pulled over for what was believed to be illegally tinted windows, the police asked the man to leave the vehicle. Instead, he jumped back into the car and attempted to drive off. This led to an officer fatally shooting him.

Certainly an unfortunate series of events, but you might think a little escalated. We were not there and don’t know the details so we won’t discuss this further.

What did later happen though is that the police decided to attend his funeral. While some might think that this was a sign of respect to the man or his family, instead, in a report via UberGizmo, it was simply to try and unlock his phone using his fingerprint from inside the coffin.

Hardly tactful policing

As you can imagine, the family were none-to-happy about this. It isn’t even the first instance we have heard of police attempting to use corpses of the deceased to unlock phones. Apparently, though, it does have mixed results. It does, however, show a complete lack of tact. I mean, to show up at the funeral of a man you shot. Let alone to then try and unlock his phone in front of family and mourners.

I have no idea as to what the actual legality of this is, but I would say, at the very least, it’s a bit shady. Presumably, with him being at a funeral, the investigation was over. As such, I think legally speaking the body would be the official possession of the family. That is unless the police had a warrant. Who knows, but either way, it’s certainly all a bit macabre. I certainly don’t recall seeing it done in Dexter.

What do you think about this? – Let us know in the comments!