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If you see someone stuck on the top of a crane, think twice about tweeting a photo of them

Toronto firefighters, police and medics rescued a young woman who climbed approximately 15 storeys to the top of a construction crane at near Church and Wellesley early this morning. She had been stuck there since around 3:30 a.m. Toronto police have charged the woman, whose name has not being released at this time, with mischief.

It’s not clear at this time why she climbed the crane, but it would have been very dangerous and difficult – particularly to shimmy down the metal cable hanging from its frame.

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J Greg Mazur

As onlookers and social media applauded the firefighter who brought her to the ground, some very weird assumptions and jokes about who this woman is and why she climbed the crane emerged online.

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While the above tweets are gross and ignorant – there’s a good chance this person didn’t just climb to the top of a crane for a laugh – it could have been even worse had this ended differently. It’s become instinctual to grab our phones and start shooting when we see something surprising or unusual, but we need to start thinking more carefully about how we share these images as an emergency unfolds.

In the last month, we’ve read too many stories, local and abroad, about people sharing videos of suicides and murders on social media. The impact these images, which are seemingly impossible to contain once they’ve been shared, have on the friends and families of victims is similarly immeasurable. 

“What happened to my father was horrific,” Robby Miller told CNN after his father, Robert Godwin Sr., was shot to death in a video shared on Facebook Live. “I wouldn’t wish that on anybody. The man who videotaped my father getting shot stripped him of his dignity. And to post it online for the whole world to see? I’m just angry.”

In the United States, victims of child pornography can seek restitution from perpetrators for this very reason. In 1994, Congress found that every time someone views the pornographic images, it “represents a renewed violation of the privacy of the victims and repetition of their abuse.”

When victims or their families and friends know these images are out there, they’re re-traumatized by the thought of people looking at them. We’re all glad the woman who climbed the crane is safe this morning. But let’s wait to get a little more information before sharing endless close-ups of her face and making jokes about why she was up there.

kater@nowtoronto.com | @katierowboat

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