A Texas man was arrested for beating his girlfriend after he became angry over one of her Snapchats, authorities say.
Odessa police cuffed Jason Gregg early Saturday after an officer pulled the victim over for speeding and noticed blood running down her face.
Gregg and his girlfriend had been drinking and dancing at a Midland bar, cops say. But the night took a dangerous turn when the 30-year-old suspect grew irate because the woman sent a snap to a friend in Australia, a probable cause affidavit states.
Gregg—whose own online trail includes selfies with his bulldog—is charged with aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury, a second-degree felony. He was released from Midland County Jail on $75,000 bond, a jail spokeswoman told The Daily Beast.
Cops caught onto Gregg after a patrolman saw the 29-year-old victim driving 60 mph in a 45 mph zone around 3:30 a.m. The woman told the officer she left her apartment “to let Jason calm down,” the affidavit states.
“The victim was speeding and we stopped her,” police spokesman Cpl. Steve LeSueur told The Daily Beast. “The officer right off the bat could tell something wasn’t right.”
The woman told cops Gregg grabbed her throat and threw her head into the wall. While she was on the ground, he allegedly kicked her arms and legs. Gregg then allegedly smashed her head into a counter, cutting her head.
The woman screamed when she saw blood dripping from her head, and Gregg covered her face with his hands so she couldn’t breathe, the affidavit says. Gregg finally let her go and she fled their residence, police say.
She was treated at the hospital for a one-inch cut that required seven stitches, authorities say.
An attorney for Gregg could not be reached.
Cpl. LeSueur said he didn’t know what was in the Snapchat photo or why it sparked Gregg’s fury. But domestic cases in Odessa increasingly involve arguments over social media, LeSueur said.
In December, Odessa cops arrested a 34-year-old man after he allegedly pointed a gun at his wife during an argument over one of her Facebook friends.
According to the Odessa American, Michael Henry Abbott was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. Abbott’s wife told cops he threatened to kill her if she did not delete a male Facebook friend, the American reported.
Abbott allegedly picked up a loaded shotgun and pointed it at the 31-year-old wife, according to a police report.
The incidents come at a time when crime and social media are intertwined.
Last month, a triple shooting in Norfolk, Virginia, was captured on Facebook Live—days after Philando Castile’s girlfriend used the same social media feature to livestream his fatal shooting by a Minnesota police officer.
In June, a mother in Tampa, Florida, claimed her 15-year-old daughter committed suicide after a friend posted images of her showering on Snapchat. (An attorney for an “involved party” questioned the mom’s bullying claims and said his client received hate mail because of the allegations, WFLA reported.)
Meanwhile, a pair of accused killers in South Carolina asked people to follow them on Twitter and Snapchat during a court appearance earlier this year.
“Your honor, I have a question. What are these cameras for?” Albert Lavern Taylor, 22, asked a judge during his bond hearing in February. The judge replied, “It’s the news media.”
“Oh, the news media,” said fellow defendant, Dennis Ezell Gibbs Jr., 19, before turning to a TV camera. “What’s up, y’all? Are you following me on Twitter?”
“Follow me on Instagram,” Taylor interrupted, “Snapchat.”
At the time, police said the suspects may have fatally shot the victim, a 17-year-old boy, over a social media spat.
Still, one 21-year-old Hawaii woman used Facebook Live to nab a much-older supervisor who was sexually harassing her as she did court-ordered community service. The video footage led to his arrest.
Last week, Makana Milho told The Daily Beast she feared for her safety when she began secretly recording her conversations with Harold Villanueva Jr., a Honolulu parks department employee. In the footage, Villanueva Jr. propositioned Milho and copped to having sex with other subordinates.
“I didn’t expect it to go viral,” Milho said. “What people don’t get is that I did it for my own personal safety, as proof. I didn’t expect people to share it and share it and watch.”