A 21-year-old Florida street racer who struck and killed a mother and her 20-month-old daughter has developed a bizarre social media following from around the world who seemingly believe his 24-year prison sentence was too harsh.
Cameron Herrin, now 21, was sentenced in April for racing with a fellow student in Tampa in his brand-new Ford Mustang – a high-school graduation present – and slamming into Jessica Reisinger-Raubenolt, 24, who was pushing her daughter Lillia in a stroller across a road in 2018.
During Herrin’s sentencing hearing, the judge said that the 21-year-old’s track record of excessive speeding contributed to his decision to put him behind bars for 24 years – six years short of the maximum sentence.
By July, comments with the hashtag “Cameron Herrin” and “justice for Cameron” inundated the social media pages of local news outlets and authorities involved with the case, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
Some posts claimed Herrin – who pleaded guilty to vehicular homicide in December – was “too cute” to go to prison.
At the end of that month, there were at least 100,000 tweets about Herrin while videos related to him on TikTok were viewed 1.7 billion times, according to the paper. Twitter has since suspended 900 accounts – removing more than 90,000 tweets – that posted content about Herrin for violating its platform manipulation and spam policy.
A verified TikTok account seemingly belonging to Herrin has amassed 2 million followers despite having no content published.
Herrin’s mother, Cheryl, told the paper that the interest in her son is “almost like an obsession, an unhealthy obsession.” She said that she’s received phone calls at home in the middle of the night from people in Middle Eastern countries who support her son.
While much of the content appears to be from the Middle East, one website dedicated to Herrin shares IP addresses with a Chinese company while another shares IP addresses with a company in Switzerland, the paper reported.
Experts told the Times that while some of the social media accounts belonged to real people, others appeared to have only been created in July. They said much of the interest surrounding Herrin online bears similarities to digital manipulation campaigns, adding that the ultimate motive for the intense interest is difficult to pin down.
This total loser doesn’t deserve any sympathy at all. he murdered a mother and daughter, with his stupidity, of racing, and running down these two innocent people, dirtbag should of got maximum.
Whew. Good thing you’re not a judge. Otherwise everyone would be on death row. 24 years is pretty harsh for an act of negligence. Yep, drag racing is stupid and dangerous. I think having to live with the guilt is the worst punishment, but locking him up and throwing away the key? Sorry Joe, you’re a bit of a dick.
you take a life you pay its the law no one is abpve the law its settled prison
Except Bidens, Clintons, Obamas. Maybe the great equalizer is yet to descend.
The surviving family of the dead sure as hell don’t think the sentence was too severe
Words fail me for anyone who supports this complete asshole who has no respect for human life. He should have received the maximum sentence allowed by law, and stay on parole the remainder of his life. Put him back in prison if he breathes the wrong way. I was almost killed by someone who ran a red-light because they were in a hurry.
This is exactly what is wrong with the world today. That people feel sorry for these killers . And the punishment is nothing compared to what he should of got. He has no remorse and he probably killed them on purpose. Just using speeding as an excuse and pity. I wish we would bring back execution for ALL MURDERERS AND KILLERS. Instead of feeling sorry for the killers feel sorry for the ones who lost their innocent lives for no reason at all. What ever happened to justice?. No wonder we all are doomed and set up for complete failure. We need a justice system that we have long forgotten about and rightly needed.