Wanted thief in England resembles David Schwimmer’s character from ‘Friends’, goes viral
Upon first glance of the photo, one may think Ross Geller is the suspect Police are looking following a theft at a restaurant in England.
According major affiliate ABC News, Police from Blackpool, England are searching for a suspect wanted for allegedly stealing a coat, cellphone, and wallet from a restaurant on September 20th.
Ever since Blackpool Police turned to the people of the internet for help, social media users were quick to make a connection between the looks of the suspect and those of “Friends” character Ross Geller, played by American actor David Schwimmer.
Schwimmer appeared as the character on the hit show from 1995 to 2004. His performance as Ross Geller earned him a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting actor in a Comedy Series in 1995
The Facebook post, which shows a surveillance photo of the suspect carrying what appears be be a crate of beer, has been commented on over 100,000 times and shared over 50,00 times.
Comments on the post were immediately filled with references to the “friends” character, joking that Ross may or may not have been involved in the theft.
These kinds of posts where so numerous, Blackpool Police eventually posted their own comment in reply. “We have investigated this matter thoroughly and have confirmed that David Schwimmer was in America on this date. We’re so sorry it has to be this way.”
This completely ruled out, at least for fans everywhere on the internet, any comical connection between the real suspect and actor David Schwimmer.
However, this did not stop the man behind the much loved character to prove his own innocence on the matter, as he would later take to twitter to post a parody video recreating the photo.
Officers, I swear it wasn’t me.
As you can see, I was in New York.
To the hardworking Blackpool Police, good luck with the investigation.#itwasntme pic.twitter.com/EDFF9dZoYR
— schwim (@DavidSchwimmer) October 24, 2018
“Officers, I swear it wasn’t me.” he wrote in his post. “as you can see, I was in New York. To the hardworking Blackpool Police, good luck with the investigation.” In the video, Schwimmer is seen carrying a crate and looking at the camera in dark clothes, similar to the suspect in the photo.
Although comments on social media poked fun at the way the situation unfolded virally, they were also filled with support for the Blackpool Police Department.
As for the actual suspect in the photo, Police are still looking into tips received that can possibly lead to his identity and whereabouts.
“We can see the humorous side to this but equally for us, there is a policing purpose to these kinds of appeals on social media and in this case, it’s to help us find the man pictured, and seek justice for the victim,” Inspector David Wilson from Blackpool Police said in a statement to ABC News. “We have been overwhelmed with tens of thousands of comments on our Facebook appeal and some of these have given us positive lines of enquiry which we are currently looking into.”
