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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.'"
This is the price you pay for being immature.
You know you have done something wrong (1.drive drunk 2.smash a car and the incident is the effect of a cause that is you alone, in wrongdoing). You look around, make sure noone sees you and when this turns out to be positive, you keep your fucking mouth shut. QED.
Treating this story as news in this day and age smacks of the "Same old crime.... but on a COMPUTER!!!" syndrome that we've been criticising for a decade or more.
If you get to know about a crime and do not report it, you automatically become an accomplice. He basically forced them to report him.
:wq
Idiotic for driving drunk. Even more so for admitting to doing something illegal, stupid and dangerous to self, and admitting it to people who apparently have an interest in the subject's well-being.
Do you see what I did there?
Do you wait until your friend kills someone before you do the right thing?
Tubby or not tubby. Fat is the question
Some poor guy's car get wrecked up by an asshole and you are only worried protecting the asshole from paying the consequences? Snitching is absolutely and completely ethical if you are reporting an immoral or unethical act. If an asshole has hurt another person, then you have a duty to snitch. The case where snitching is unethical is when you report a 'crime' that hurts nobody (drug use is a good example).
Yes. A better headline would be "Stupidity Lands Drunk Driving Teen in Jail".
Besides which, "friends" means something completely different on Facebook.
In the real world, they're people that would slap you in the face for being a dangerous shithead. On facebook, they're often just people that were in the same yearbook as you, once upon a time.
They're doing him a favour - if he stops drink driving, he's much less likely to end up in a body bag, or worse, maimed or in jail.
For me, my "obligations" to friends and family would stop depending on the nature of the crime. For example, if a friend or family member was committing a "victimless crime" such as taking illegal drugs, I would absolutely feel no need to report this. But for something like drink driving, you can be certain I'd reporting this.
Backup not found: (A)bort (R)etry (P)anic
You! Out of the gene pool! The little shit could've killed someone, and you're worried that someone told on him?
is never a good idea.
I'm reminded of the Belgian who had a video of himself doing 300km/h on the motorway posted to youtube.
He was driving an Aston Marting Vantage Carbon Black edition of which only three were sold in Belgium. Didn't take the police long to figure out which one it was.
Or even worse, hurting or killing someone else.
Even if my friends kill someone, I'll still support them.
That's what true friendship is about.
Being drunk behind the wheel of a car is a dangerous thing to be doing. If it was my friend i'd be dobbing them in too, for their safety and the safety of my other friends (and family, and strangers). I would be giving them the chance to turn themselves in first, but they'd need to be quick. That's the sort of support they need, even if it isn't what they want.
In any case, a true friend wouldn't put me in the position where I had to make such a choice.
1. Tell people about a crime you committed.
2. Get caught.
Glad that still works.
Driving drunk is ALWAYS wrong. 99% of gun owners do absolutely nothing wrong with their guns.
"People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
In many parts of the world, those 99% of gun owners do something wrong with their gun: owning it. (yes, in many parts of the world gun ownership itself is forbidden, except very few specific exceptions...)
No... they do something illegal. Being illegal doesn't make something wrong. In many parts of the world owning a bible is illegal.
This. Next time he hits a car there might be somebody in it.
And there *will* be a next time if you approve of his behavior by inaction (ie. not "snitching").
Exactly. His friends reporting him ARE being his friends. Hopefully, this is a wake-up call that, if he wizens up to, will keep his future from being filled with regret and manslaughter charges. If he doesn't, his irresponsibility will wreck more than just his own selfish existence.