JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Outrage continued Wednesday over a photo of a teenager's dead body that was posted to Twitter moments after a fatal crash Sunday night on Lem Turner Road.
The 16-year-old victim's mother told News4Jax on Tuesday that she wants to see the "heartless" driver who hit and killed her son, Trevius Williams, punished for posting the photo to social media.
Recommended Videos
Jacksonville City Councilman Reggie Gaffney agreed with that sentiment and said he wants penalties put in place to help regulate social media. Gaffney represents the district where the driver lives.
"I can understand how the family feels right now, and I can feel their pain," Gaffney said.
Trevius (pictured below) was struck and killed while crossing Lem Turner Road by a car driven by 19-year-old Keenan Slaughter (pictured above), who was not cited by police in the crash because Trevius was not in a crosswalk and Slaughter stayed at the scene and cooperated with police.
Gaffney said a situation like the one Sunday night involving Slaughter's Twitter post, which went viral, is bound to happen again.
"I don't know what kind of law ordinance that we can create to take a look at this, but we need to do something and take a look at this seriously, not just a local city official, but also the state legislature as well to see what we can do to put a law into place," Gaffney said.
Slaughter's post of Trevius' body came with others on his account that read "I jus killed a man" and "me trying to smile."
Trevius' grieving mother said her sadness changed to anger because of the post.
"I want charges against him," Connie Coles said. "I want his license to be taken and I think he should do some jail time, and I'm not going to stop until I get justice."
Gaffney said people who use social media often don't think about the pain they could be causing others. He said his immediate thought was that this could happen to anyone's family, including his own .
"I'm thinking about me and my son," Gaffney said. "He's very young and to have him photographed and someone call me and tell me my son was dead and is on social media -- to me that hurts."
News4Jax attempted to contact Slaughter for comment, but no one came to the door at his home.
Slaughter's neighbor, Gregory Lott, who said he knows Slaughter personally, said the teen's posts to Twitter were out of character.
"I've known him a long time," Lott said. "Nice family. I'm still shocked it was him that did it, but he's a kid. I've never had any trouble with him. My family has never had any real trouble with him.
"I feel bad for the victim's family, first of all, but the kid who put it on social media, I feel bad for him as well. He's a good kid, but he probably did this without thinking first."
Slaughter deactivated his Twitter account Wednesday.