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Facebook Lands Drunk Driving Teen In Jail
Hugh Pickens writes "The Washington Post reports that 18-year-old Jacob Cox-Brown has been arrested after telling his Facebook network that he had hit a car while driving drunk, posting the message: 'Drivin drunk ... classsic ;) but to whoever's vehicle i hit i am sorry. :P' Two of Cox-Brown's friends saw the message and sent it along to two separate local police officers and after receiving the tip, police went to Cox-Brown's house and were able to match a vehicle there to one that had hit two others in the early hours of the morning. Police then charged the teen with two counts of failing to perform the duties of a driver. 'Astoria Police have an active social media presence,' says a press release from Astoria Police. 'It was a private Facebook message to one of our officers that got this case moving, though. When you post ... on Facebook, you have to figure that it is not going to stay private long.'"
Sorry, but drunk drivers deserve whatever they get. Once you've had multiple family members killed by drunk drivers, you'll feel a little different about it. And no, these weren't first time offenders, either. For one it was his 5th offense, for another it was his 15th offense, and for the third it was was 17th offense. In the second "accident", the victim was unrecognizable because she (and the motor) had been relocated to the back seat of the car. The only way they knew it was her was because: 1) it was her car, 2) she had a distinctive bracelet on one hand, and 3) she'd just been on the phone with relatives and had relayed her location, which was just a few blocks from where she was killed.
So, I have no mercy for drunk drivers and I think the punitive and financial costs to these asshats should be much, MUCH, **MUCH** higher than they currently are. As it is, there is no incentive for them to learn from their mistakes and they do not.