I have a love-hate relationship with texting. Yes it’s quick and easy, but my sarcastic humor sometimes gets lost in translation. At least it used to, until I added the emoji keyboard to my messages. These cartoonish emoticons opened up a whole new world for me, one where I didn’t have to add “lol” to the end of every message to make it explicitly clear that I was joking. However, some of these emojis–like the gun, dead person, and police officer–don’t have police laughing, especially when used in a way that appears threatening.

Police are calling these emoji death threats, and they’re taking these pictures just as seriously as they would take words.

Take the case of 17-year-old Osiris Aristy from Bushwick, Brooklyn who was arrested for making terrorist threats by NYPD officers after posting images of himself with a gun and ammunition on his Facebook with posts like “feel like katxhin a body right now” and “N***a run up on me, he gunna get blown down,” as well as other horribly spelled posts. The posts featured gun emojis next to a police officer emoji.

Just by looking at Aristy’s Facebook page, it’s clear he has a propensity towards posting emoji-laden updates. (He does not, apparently, have a habit of wearing shirts if the photo of him in the tweet below is any indication.)

“Osiris Aristy, 17, was arrested for Facebook posts” http://t.co/6X4MtWf4qF Great name, stupid kid – too bad #tcot#criming

— Dennis Price (@JustAHobbit) January 24, 2015

During the arrest, police found his weapon and 21 neatly packaged baggies of marijuana in his home. Aristy is currently held on a $150,000 bail and is due to appear in court next Friday.

What many naive teens may not realize is that police officers routinely check social media accounts for suspicious behavior. That’s exactly how Aristy, a repeat offender with past charges for criminal possession of a weapon, robbery and assault, was caught in the first place.

Police are taking these cartooned threats seriously because they have to. Just a couple weeks ago I wrote about Ismaaiyl Brinsley, a man who reportedly used the traffic app Waze to gun down NYPD officers Rafael Ramos and Wenjian Liu. Before the murders, Brinsley posted his plans to put “wings on pigs” next to gun emojis and #shootthepolice on his Instagram account. Police were notified of the threatening posts but it was already too late.

Freelance journalist Fletcher Babb also found himself on the other end of an emoji death threat, while researching Instagram’s black market culture for a piece he was writing. Babb discovered an Atlanta-based rapper who appeared to be selling a drug-laced syrup called “lean” through the social network. Babb posed as a potential customer, messaging back and forth with the rapper but never went through with purchasing any illegal drugs.

The rapper wasn’t pleased when he didn’t complete the sale and retaliated by posting on his Instagram a screenshot of Babb’s still-public Instagram account with a dead smiley face and gun emoji followed by the words “dude and his boys took the money off the green dot before they got the pints because I told them when it touch town I’ll take the money off then…”

According to Mashable, Babb reported the threatening post to Instagram, but the company never removed it. The dealer’s account was quickly deleted a couple days after the threat, which is apparently a common practice among drug dealers to avoid detection. Justin Patchin, Ph.D., a professor of criminal justice at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and co-director of the Cyberbullying Research Center told Mashable:

When law enforcement investigates, they have to determine whether a person would have been reasonably threatened.

Intimidating or threatening imagery delivered via emoji, especially if it has been sustained over time or if the threats are coupled with some physical action, could warrant a criminal case on the grounds of assault or stalking. It could also be tried under civil or tort law as a case of defamation or an intentional wrong resulting in harm.

The penalties for such charges vary from state to state, ranging from a short jail sentence to a heavy fine. Keeping that in mind, emoji users should start to think twice before using a gun emoji, even if it is meant to be a joke. Police can consider it like it’s the real thing, and that perception could get you in some serious trouble.

Alexis Evans

Alexis Evans is an Assistant Editor at Law Street and a Buckeye State native. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Journalism and a minor in Business from Ohio University. Contact Alexis at aevans@LawStreetMedia.com.

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