Facebook Lands Drunk Driving Teen In Jail 443
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.'"
Not FB (Score:0, Informative)
While I am no fan of FB, this is not a case of FB landing a teen in jail, it's a case of a mouthy teen and his ratty 'friend' (not that I condone drunk driving and hit and run, but let's call things what they are).
Re:Nice friends (Score:3, Informative)
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.
An accomplice is present at the crime. You'd become an accessory.
Re:How is this gasping news (Score:4, Informative)
The news is even inaccurate... Facebook didn't land him in jail, being a moron and driving drunk, then not stopping at the scene of an accident did.
Doing those things and then getting caught landed him in jail. Without blabbing on facebook he might not have been caught. As far as headlines go it's vaguely accurate.
Re:Nice friends (Score:4, Informative)
As far as I can tell this is not actually true, at least not in the US. IANAL, but the people here [lawyers.com] seem to be. As long as you're not in any way an accessory before or after the fact, as long as you remain silent and don't misrepresent or obstruct the course of justice by lying about not seeing anything when you did and as long as the victim isn't in your custody like being the parent or guardian and you don't have a professional relationship like a teacher, doctor or psychologist who has extra legal obligations then there's no general legal requirement to report crime. Even the crime of misprision [cornell.edu] require you to conceal the crime, not mere failing to report it. If you're just a completely unrelated bystander, you can do nothing. Cheering them on would make you an accessory, though.
Re:Nice friends (Score:4, Informative)
Added to that in this case, is that for a drunk driver he/she is most likely going to kill someone they know, someone you know.
Re:Upside Down World (Score:2, Informative)
Driving drunk is ALWAYS wrong.
Because it's defined that way, d'oh...
99% of gun owners do absolutely nothing wrong with their guns.
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...)
Re:Bragging about crimes in public (Score:4, Informative)
Now THAT is stupid.
If you live in Belgium you can drive to Germany in no time ... and there's no speed limits in Germany.
Re:Bragging about crimes in public (Score:4, Informative)
If you live in Belgium you can drive to Germany in no time ... and there's no speed limits in Germany.
Actually, there is. Even on motorways with no explicit speed limit, the speed limit is "whatever speed is safe". 300km/h would only be safe on a motorway with no other traffic whatsoever, with special training to enable you to drive at that speed safely, and enough clear view ahead so you can slow down to a reasonable speed safely within your view.
Re:Bragging about crimes in public (Score:4, Informative)
The Autobahns are full of police cars...but I never saw anybody pulled over for going too fast
Tailgating? Not indicating when you pull out? Hogging the left lane? Doing anything except driving and paying attention to the road? They'll come down on you like a ton of bricks. Speeding? Not so much. Not unless you're weaving in and out of other cars to do it or generally acting like an asshole and bothering other drivers.
If it's not congested then most Germans drive around 180-200kmh (110-125mph) on the Autobahns.
I've done 250kmh (150mph) in a taxi...which should put most American's idea of "speed" into perspective.
Yes, it's kinda cool/weird to be able to blow past police cars at any speed without worrying...
Re:Nice friends (Score:4, Informative)
Guess it disagrees with the US Court's interpretation too (http://scholar.google.com.my/scholar_case?case=14806734468103617188&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr&sa=X&ei=qzjoUMy1I8njrAePoIDoAw&ved=0CC0QgAMoADAA ).
So I guess the conceal is considered an active thing and not passive.
Re:How is this gasping news (Score:3, Informative)
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.
Ditto texting and gadget-using drivers.
Re:Bragging about crimes in public (Score:4, Informative)
If you blow by the polizei going 250kmh on the autobahn (or federal highway) and there's a speed limit, which the highest it will be if there is one is 130kmh, you are fooling yourself if you don't think you'll get pulled over. While the autobahn (or federal highway, except through towns/cities) as a motorway has no set speed limit, the maximum recommended speed is 130kmh. If you get in an accident going over that speed you are always partially at fault, no matter what actually caused the accident. If you are driving over the speed rating of your tires and it's found out, you're going to be fined. While there are plenty of places on the autobahn with no speed limit (I've hit 250 in my car, damn rev limiter), more and more there are large sections which are limited, with many of those having a variable limit depending on congestion level. Finally, one of the big reasons the polizei don't pull over speeders is because they have cameras to catch and bill them, with the fine correlating to actual speed limit and how much over you were going.
Re:How is this gasping news (Score:5, Informative)
In the US, the prison system is the solution to every problem. I always say that tourists should have a look inside our prisons to see what the real America is like. The New America is represented by a sadistic prison guard beating the shit out of an inmate for fun. Our culture is all about punishment and revenge and hurting people. A whole country full of angry, enthusiastic torturers who don't care what happens to anyone else but themselves.