Emily Hackler’s post on Facebook about how a police officer stalked her went viral. The officer from Rossford in Ohio used Emily’s license plate number to find out who she was after following Emily in a black truck, and later sent her unwanted text messages on Facebook.
Officer Glenn Goss Jr. was suspended after this incident. His badge and gun were taken away. Goss then resigned. Meanwhile, an investigation has been launched and the Rossford Police Department Chief plans to get in touch with Emily to discuss what happened. This is not the first time that Goss has acted this way.
21-year-old Emily’s post on Facebook was shared more than 36k times and received over 4.6k comments. Scroll down to see what messages the officer sent to the woman and how people and the authorities reacted to this disturbing event.
Police officer Glenn Goss Jr. tracked down a woman he passed on his way to work and sent her unwanted messages
The Mayor of Rossford, Neil MacKinnon III, confirmed on Tuesday, June 16 that the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation has placed Goss under investigation for alleged misconduct. The Mayor said that they’d first thought of asking the Wood County Sheriff to do the investigation, however, Goss had previously worked there and this might have caused problems with transparency.
Goss had used the Police Department’s database during his shift to collect information about Emily whom he’d passed on his way to work. Goss is the son of Rossford’s former police chief.
“It’s an invasion of privacy for sure. He was in his personal vehicle. You’re not allowed to stop or look up anyone’s information without probable cause, so the fact that he was not in his official work vehicle, it got me thinking, ‘How did this happen? Why did he search my plate number to get my information?’ It did make me feel very uneasy,” Emily told The Blade.
Rossford Police Chief Todd Kitzler said about the incident, “I’m disappointed, that’s my feeling right now. But I don’t want to jump to any conclusions until the investigation is done. It’s a very serious allegation, and if you want my feelings, I’m disappointed.”
He added that Goss made a “huge lapse in judgment” but added that he is, overall, “very proud of the Rossford Police Department and the officers.”
This may not be the first time that Goss stalked women. 26-year-old Taylor Yarder said that Goss stopped her for speeding last year. She explained that he was professional but later on sent her messages on Facebook. “You were almost in trouble. The next person I stopped wasn’t so lucky haha,” was one of the things he wrote to Taylor.
She didn’t report the incident when it happened but has saved the messages and took them to the Police Department after seeing Emily’s story. The Mayor of Rossford said that he knows of a total of 3 complaints against Goss in total but did not want to discuss the third allegation.
Here's how people reacted when they read about the incident
