Instagram Posts May Have Escalated Fatal Standoff, Police Say

Critics of the police have welcomed social media — especially live video — as a way to document their interactions with officers, hoping it would lead to better police behavior or eliminate conflicting stories. But in the case of Korryn Gaines, according to the police, it may have escalated the encounter.

While the standoff with Gaines continued, the police in Baltimore County submitted a request to Facebook — which owns Instagram — to deactivate but not delete her accounts. Facebook cooperated, temporarily making her Facebook and Instagram posts inaccessible during the standoff. “It’s key for these trained negotiators to be able to interact with the subject without distraction, without interference from the outside,” Elise Armacost, a Baltimore County police spokeswoman, said. The episode highlights Facebook’s increasingly complicated role in documenting violence, and in some cases, its active place in the middle of it.