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Man arrested over Facebook relationship status

By | February 17, 2011, 9:18am PST

Summary: Changing your relationship status on Facebook isn’t always taken lightly. In this case, it resulted in a very heated argument that required the law to sort out.

21-year-old Eric James Wilson, of Palm Bay, Florida has been charged with battery domestic violence and a misdemeanor, after an altercation that began when he changed relationship status on Facebook. He went from “married” to “single” on the social network. The affected woman, who did not identify herself Wilson’s wife or ex-wife, was not pleased, according to Click Orlando.

Police reported being called to a house to follow up on calls about a disturbance. The argument between Wilson and the woman on Thursday included shouting obscenities, breaking a TV set in the home, and Wilson allegedly pushing the woman against a brick wall and threatening to shoot her.

Wilson was taken to the Brevard County Detention Center in Sharpes and was eventually released on community supervision. On Saturday, he returned for a hearing, where a judge ordered him to have no further contact with the victim and never to return to the home. He is scheduled for a second court appearance on February 28 to face the battery charges.

So, the moral of the story is as follows: make sure your significant other is aware that you’re about to change your relationship status on Facebook. You may not see it as a big deal, but they will if they find out from the social network rather than from you.

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Topics

Emil Protalinski has covered the tech industry for five years for multiple publications.

Disclosure

Emil Protalinski

Emil has nothing to disclose.

Biography

Emil Protalinski

Emil Protalinski has covered the tech industry for five years for multiple publications, including Neowin for two years and Ars Technica for three years. He has written 1,000s of articles for both, with a particular focus on scrutinizing Microsoft products and services. Recently, Emil has expanded his coverage to non-Microsoft technologies, including the social networking giant Facebook.

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jumping to conclusions
turrenti@... 2nd Apr
I think if you ever been around a person that has ever been abused by a man
that this at the most sounds like the beginnings at the most. The facts stated are someone broke a tv and an alleged pushing and threat. No physical signs are stated
and if you ever seen a woman that was abused those jerks don't pull punches, it's quite terrible. I have seen some aggressive behavior from women also and if you were to remain unbiased I think you can only come to the conclusion "who knows?".
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No that isn't the moral at all. Not battering your significant other probably is.

You think this is "funny"?
@jeremychappell

No. What's "funny" is that you can't separate the humor in changing a facebook status causing a marital fight, and the disgust of actually abusing a spouse. They aren't mutually exclusive.
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@Badgered You are a moron. I take it by virtue of your name, you probably beat your wife also.
  • Flagged
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their is no humor in violence
sdmayhew@... 18th Feb 2011
@Badgered this is not funny at all that a idiot on facebook didn't have the guts to face his significant other about their relationship issues. especially when faced with it became violent.
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@jeremychappell You are totally my hero for this comment. THANK YOU so much.
@lassarina
Why? Because he's a humorless loser?

Okay.
@jeremychappell
I don't see anywhere in the article where the writer is trying to make jokes or make you laugh. Seems to me the article was written as irony. YOU may have interpreted this as funny so you need to ask yourself why YOU think its funny. Overly sensitive people in this world.
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@rengek
Probably the shallowness of people who think real life has anything to do with 'Like this' and 'Friends' on facebook. The flipping irony is that for all the talk about making real contact on facebook, here is a guy who could not tell a person in the same house, a person he saw everyday, that he was moving on. I guess a real appearance before a judge has put his wishes into real-life effect.
@jeremychappell there is no battery here, what we have is a routine case of two people fighting for control, and the police joining in on one side of the argument. The police did not arrest the woman for her obscenities, for her pushing, and they just don't do that.

So be it. I hope the man files for divorce tomorrow and doesn't look back.
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@rdupuy11 Excuse me but pushing someone into a wall is battery and he also had to use his hands to do it ...right ...that's also battery
@jj183@...
*Allegedly* pushed against wall - now, let's make it clear that I hate wifebeaters (and violent women as well), I loathe them, they make me puke - Still I don't know what is it that makes people go mad because someone *accuses* someone else of something, even if that "something" would be much worse than this I still would not understand. Do you people not understand what is the philosophy behind "innocent until proven quilty"? The ethics behind that principle?
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@jeremychappell He's probably right. You should tell your significant other first, otherwise they may make assumptions.

The dude definitely shouldn't have battered his wife though.
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******* THIS!
Stormbringer_57th 19th Feb 2011
@jeremychappell Yeah!
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You people still use Facebook?? when your mom and grandma are on it, it is no longer cool!
@Hasam1991

I think you are 100% right. I see fewer and fewer people under age 30 on F.B. What is their option to social network?
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@thofts
How about sociallyawkwardsagainstrealrelationships.com or loserswithnorealfriends.com or whydontpeopleinschoollikeme.com ?
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@thofts
How about trying something totally different like; like maybe... REAL LIFE!
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GOOGLE PLUS
skyoneder Updated - 13th Jul
@thofts

Obviously google+ (G+)
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@Hasam1991

You still think cool has to do with age? How '90's of you! BwwwwwwaaaaaaHaaaaaaaaaaHaaaaaaaa!!!!!!
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@SirThor
No sorry I don't own any Dell products, so no 90's for me... and I didn't say anything about age.
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old people?
WEBJR 18th Feb 2011
@Hasam1991 I am just assuming that your younger and some day you will be old? too. Your short sentence said to me that you think your cool and that you don't care for older ppl, at least on fb sounds kind of like stigma. Maybe you should start your own social networking site with a age limit you see fit for yourself and forget about us older foke that probably know a hell of a lot more than you ever will
@Hasam1991

LOL totally agree! you know its bad when your mom and all her friends are trying to add you.
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allegedly
guihombre Updated - 17th Feb 2011
Allegedly? Wait, so they had an argument, she accused him of pushing her against a wall, was there any actual evidence, such as bruising or witnesses? Because he's barred from his home now.

She could simply have wanted revenge by making a false allegation. For example, it's common in divorce cases to make the false child/spouse abuse claim to win custody.

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/504523/Bill-would-criminalize-false-abuse-charges.html?nav=5011

"In West Virginia, from March 2007 to March 2008, West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources Child Protective Services received and did paperwork on 37,165 incidents of child abuse. From those, 26,904 cases were further investigated, said John Law, spokesperson for WVDHHR. Only 3,998 cases were found to be substantiated, or less than 20 percent of all investigated incidents."
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RE: Man arrested over Facebook relationship status
VRSpock Updated - 17th Feb 2011
@guihombre

She posted about the abuse on her Facebook profile after the fight. Does that serve as proof of anything? /sarcasm
@VRSpock - Not really. YOu could also post that Santa Claus arrived in the middle of the argument and saved the day.
@guihombre scorned women lie? Say it ain't so!
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@guihombre ...Allegedly? Wait, so .... yes allegedly...innocent until proven guilty
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@guihombre

Of course, it is impossible to tell from the article whether or not the injustice you refer to actually took place. Reporters are careless with such details, despite their annoying habit of sprinking 'alleged' everywhere.

But the real topic, and the point of this article, still stands: it is an incredibly bad idea to change your Facebook self-description to deny your relationship with your "significant other".
BFD. Isn't it obvious this was not going to end well, facebook or no facebook.
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Too Funny

Have you all seen the video on facebook "Don't let facebook break up your marriage"

Evidently this couple did not. lol
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The true travesty of justice is, there is a better than even chance that it was HIS OWN home to which he is forbidden to return by that pinhead of a judge.
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@decryobliv

No - the travesty is that you believe that it was 'his' home.

It was their home - because they were married.

It is unsafe for them to be together, he is the person that makes it unsafe, he loses out.

Same as if he was put in jail for the assault - he would not be allowed to walk his streets of his America. His freedom would be removed.

So do you suggest that he should be allowed into their home and she should be made to move out due to his actions?

Or do you suggest that neither of them should be able to go home?

Or do you suggest that the woman should have to live with a violent man?

What exactly do you think justice is?
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@richardw66 "he is the person that makes it unsafe" - I'll tell you what I suggest - the woman was waging a war for control. She now believes she has it. If the man gives it to her, she'll bring him right back into that home.

She is mad that he was leaving, not mad that he was staying.

But I hope this doesn't happen - they obviously are not a good couple - I doubt that will change. I hope he does follow through with the plans to become single.
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Well...
p0figster 18th Feb 2011
@richardw66
First off - we don't know whose names were on the title - it may not have been her home - marriage does not mean that all physical possessions become jointly owned.

We don't know if he did actually batter her - at this point it is only her allegation and it is a perfectly plausible that she made up the charge to 'punish' him.

No qualms with the jail comment.

If she is making false allegations against him, using the legal system to punish him and strip him of various freedoms, should he not be allowed to return to his own home? Should she be allowed to things up and then possibly use that as a method to take what is potentially his and his alone?

I actually think that this is the most fair recourse until the matter is settled. Remember, innocent until proven guilty - if he's not allowed to return home because of allegations then we are punishing him for no reason (he's still innocent).

If he really is a violent man, and she is really not a violent woman, then you have a point. If she is a violent woman and he is a violent man, then he shouldn't have to live with her either (violence and abuse isn't always man -> woman, it goes both ways).

About half of what you've posted does not constitute justice but rather the execution of a non-omniscient legal system.
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Facebook is for losers. If you have a Facebook account you deserve any bad things that happen to you losers.
@Goldie07
You don't find Facebook "useful"?

Current Status: 9:50AM Wondering why people think I have no life.
Current Status: 9:40AM Picking my nose.
Current Status: 9:30AM Going to the bathroom.
Current Status: 9:20AM Getting out of bed.
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@VRSpock

Yep - there is the problem - you have to get out of bed to appear to have a life on facebook.
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Article title writer should be arrested
mitchh@... 17th Feb 2011
The man was arrested for abuse and threats. Had those things not happened, his status change would not merit action of any sort. I understand wanting to grab attention with the title, but when the title is wrong it makes you look foolish IMO.
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MR Emil Protalinski, this man wasnt arrested over his FB status! He was arrested for other reasons highlighted above.
Enough tryign to sensationalize issues! We lose respect for you as a writing/reporter in this case.
This is why more and more people are disregarding ZDNet.
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misleading title
cabdriverjim Updated - 17th Feb 2011
He was arrested for battery. Not because of his facebook status. I keep seeing more and more of this. Its making me not bother read any more. Which I suppose is fine.
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So true, Hasam1991!
sissy sue Updated - 18th Feb 2011
When the Facebook CEO becomes Time's Man of the Year, then you know that Facebook is no longer cool.

Facebook has been mainstreamed. Almost "everyone" is on it. That's what makes it no longer cool.
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per your post
"Wilson allegedly pushing the woman against a brick wall and threatening to shoot her"

He was arrested for that, not his facebook status. Misleading headline.
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"Facebook Relationship Status"???
sirwriter 18th Feb 2011
Emil Protalinski, why would you categorize this as a Facebook relationship? It is a relationship status, and the guy obviously changed his status on Facebook so he could flirt with unattached females. Are you THAT hard up for something to write about? Also, at the bottom of the article in the Orlando, it states "Copyright 2011 by Internet Broadcasting Systems and ClickOrlando.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed". So may we assume that you have permission from Orlando to "rewrite" this article? If so, you should have included this at the bottom of your rewritten article.
Tell your significant other first? Get real, if you want to be single, get single before you post it on Facebook or anywhere else. Saying your single only works if you actually are single. Failure to do so could result in a shotgun blast when you walk in the door, one you probably won't hear.
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Oh for the days (did they ever exist?) when journalists actually did a little bit of research, and editors might polish up something before it hit the press (referring to the grammatical error in the lead paragraph).
It seems somewhat relevant if the woman is really married to Eric. And shouldn't he be "innocent until proven guilty"?
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Another example of idiots posting drivel on facebook.
What is the upside of posting every insignificant sad detail of your life on a website for all the other 500MM losers to look at?

I don't get it, never did.
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Shameful writer
dave@... 18th Feb 2011
Emil Protalinski, you should have your blogging priviledges removed from ZDNET. You have taken this site down another 2 notches. I have thought, like someone else posted here and others in other blog replies, that ZDNET is losing its technical content to sensationalist drivel writers such as yourself.

If the only way you can get anyone to follow you is to say that changing ones FB status gets you arrested then you have no place here. He was arrested after the fact and had he not done anything that he was alleged to have done, wouldn't have been arrested and you wouldn't have been able to post such a shabby article.

Go away. The National Inquirer has a desk for you.
The article title is sensationalist and misleading. But nothing less than I would expect from a quality media publication like this wink

The guy was arrested for being a class A prime example of an idiot and brute. Media hype, end of story.
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Hmmmm
Gis Bun 18th Feb 2011
Wasn't the co-founder of Facebook [Edouardo ...] got in hot water when his then girlfriend complainede that he was still listed as single on his web page? happy
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my guess, he was changing status to get some strange... and as guys go, was stupid enough to think he wouldn't get caught. as for handling it with violence, abusive moron that ONLY deserves quickies, not relationships.
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jumping to conclusions
turrenti@... 2nd Apr
I think if you ever been around a person that has ever been abused by a man
that this at the most sounds like the beginnings at the most. The facts stated are someone broke a tv and an alleged pushing and threat. No physical signs are stated
and if you ever seen a woman that was abused those jerks don't pull punches, it's quite terrible. I have seen some aggressive behavior from women also and if you were to remain unbiased I think you can only come to the conclusion "who knows?".

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