Rickey Wesley Lynch
Suggested by Pierre Alleur
Hemingway, Georgetown County, South Carolina, USA. We saw many cry-wolf fictims but this one may deserve a spot in the cry-cat category, literally. This rare fictimhood is courtesy of Rickey Lynch who falsely reported being mauled and dragged into a ditch by a big black cat.
February 12, 2019. Rickey Wesley Lynch makes an animal attack distress call to 911, then reported to responding officers that shortly after seeing its cub cross the road, an "oversized cat-like animal" attacked him, dragged him into a ditch while he was walking along Dennis Drive. He said he felt something grab his pant by the leg and drag him to the ground, ripped his shirt sleeve off before walking away and making a “crying noise.” He further described the animal as approximately "waist high with a tail that dragged the ground.”
Following the alleged encounter, Rickey Lynch was transported to a local hospital where he was treated for minor injuries. Fortunately, no "big black cat" was found nor arrested.
February 13, 2019. In a follow-up interview with deputies, Rickey Lynch confessed to concocting the animal encounter. Consequently, 33 year-old Rickey Wesley Lynch was arrested and charged with one count each of breach of peace and filing a false report.
We're no animal experts but looking back at the initial report, there were several red flags up for spotting
1. The reported time of the alleged attack was about 5:00pm. It is highly unlikely that a jaguar would visit a human neighbourhood at that time, let alone bring her cub. And if it so happened that the cub just wandered there while the mother was simply trying to recollect her young, she would not focus on attacking the human in the way described in the report.
2. Assuming Rickey Lynch was on the menu, most big cats will not grab and drag their living / struggling prey by the leg. Jaguars / Panthers especially will do so only by the head, and attempt to bite through the skull in that process.
3. The ditch where the fictim claimed to have been dragged into does not have any tall trees around it. Jaguars / Panthers do not stash their food in a ditch where there is / are no tall tree/s next to.
WTBW News 13 reporter said Rickey Lynch's family, particularly his father still believes and sticks to his son's story, claiming that the fictim was pressured by police to own up the experience as a hoax. Another person living in the same neighbourhood hinted the unlikelihood of a panther being in the area. "me living in this area for over 27 years, I've never known anything about any panthers", she said. "but I know we have a lot of bears, and I've heard of them bobcats", she added. Rightly so. Rickey's description of the attack is more consistent with juvenile bear behaviour than cat. So it could have been a blackbear? a wolf? Or could have been nothing at all. We saw similar fictim here who falsely claimed she was attacked by a bear.
Perhaps this fictim was high on stuff of sorts, perhaps staggered and fell, and just needed some help. We were not told but most of these kinds of false cases have had something to do with intoxication of sorts. Gets them seeing things they shouldn't see and hearing things they shouldn't hear. Hold that thought!
Related Tags: hemingway, georgetown county, south carolina, animal attack, panther, hoax
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