Comment to Sampson Tweet Causes Alarm. Winfield Reacts.

State Senator Gary Winfield (D-New Haven) is right to be concerned. A Twitter account that follows no one and has no followers declares, “Or we can just take justice in our own hands. Hopefully the sanitation system will pick up the carcass.” The comment by “Greg Tubby” was in reaction to a statement by State Senator Rob Sampson criticizing last year’s police legislation.

“I will be counting on my community to help me create public pressure to force the majority party to have this conversation whether they want to or not. Stay tuned.” Sampson included a link to a CTnewsjunkie.com article about Winfield, co-chair of the legislature’s judiciary committee, and his intention to make no changes in last year’s legislation.

The Tubby comment was caught by Mel Medina of the Connecticut office of the ACLU and an advocate of defunding the police and closing prisons, according to his Twitter profile.

Legislators should pay close attention to the comments their posts attract and react without delay when menacing, incendiary ones appear in their feeds. The Capitol Police should provide a protocol for legislators to report threatening comments, and legislators must recognize this is no ordinary time as they communicate with their constituents.