Story Archive

Self-Incrimination

“Get off my f---ing boat,” yelled a man on a video posted online. “We’re just going to have to push him off,” he continued. The next shot shows the object of his ire — a raccoon — in the water, which the man also narrated: “So long, sucker!” The boat in question was about 20 miles off the Florida coast; the animal is presumed drowned, which led to the video going viral online — and the yelling man to be vilified. The man is allegedly Thomas Cope, an attorney who is a former prosecutor with the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney’s Office. Cope posted the video to Facebook himself. The Florida Bar Association is investigating: Cope could be disciplined, or even lose his law license, as well as face charges of animal cruelty. Cope, his web site crows, was on the “Florida Super Lawyers Rising Stars list of 2010.” (RC/Tampa Bay Times) ...And on the This is True Top Obliviots list of 2019.