Man Charged After Selfie With Terminally Ill Patient, Police Say
A man has been criminally charged after posting a selfie with a terminally ill man on Facebook.
He posted the photo after the patient's daughter criticized his call to cancel a Pride event.
He claimed he had the "best of intentions," but others say it was an "intimidation tactic."
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A man has been charged with criminal harassment after he posted a photo of a woman's terminally ill father on social media following an argument about a Pride event, police said Friday.
Authorities said that Bubba Christopher Michael Pollock "consistently harassed" 36-year-old Britt Leroux on social media. He took this further when he traveled from London, Ontario, to a palliative care unit in Windsor, where he took a selfie with Leroux's terminally ill father.
Leroux had criticized Pollock online because he had called for Pride events in London to be canceled, according to CBC News, but they had not previously spoken.
Leroux told CBC News that she was shocked when she opened Facebook and saw her father in the background of Pollock's selfie, which he had posted in the comments of one of her posts.
"At first I thought it was fake. I called the nurses and said, 'Are there red roses in dad's room?' and they said yes, and that's when I called the police."
Leroux had called Pollock out for a post in which he said he would organize a protest against a Pride-themed drag queen story time event with other "patriots," The Windsor Star reported.
"I fully respect an event that's pro-gay, however bringing children into it with the drag queen story time is what I have an issue with and why there will be a protest," Pollock wrote at the time, the local news outlet reported.
Leroux believes that Pollock was able to find where her father was staying because of the news coverage of her recent wedding, which took place at the hospital so that her father could attend.
It's not known how Pollock was able to access Andre Leroux's hospital room.
Pollock claimed he went to the hospital with the "best of intentions" and presented "zero threat whatsoever," LGBTQ Nation reported.
Crystal Fach, cofounder of the regional LGBTQ+ advocacy group Diversity Ed, told the news outlet, however, that they believe it was a clear "intimidation tactic."
Leroux told CBC that she was happy that the police charged Pollock, adding, "I want [queer and trans youth] to know this is not fear — we're going to show love wins and love is louder. Love will always be louder."
There were no physical injuries caused by the incident, police said, adding that Pollock had been released to attend court at a later date.
Source: Insider
