'Drivin drunk' Facebook post leads police to teen driver
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PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Jacob Cox-Brown might want to adjust his Facebook privacy settings.
Police in the coastal city of Astoria, Ore., arrested the teenager after he allegedly confessed via Facebook that he had been driving drunk on New Year's Eve and hit someone's car.
Deputy Chief Brad Johnston said Thursday that officers were investigating a hit and run involving a sideswiped car that sustained significant damage — a second car was also hit — when two Facebook friends of Cox-Brown contacted authorities, reporting a Facebook post in which the 18-year-old wrote: "Drivin drunk ... classsic ;) but to whoever's vehicle i hit i am sorry. :P"
One of his friends sent a Facebook message to an Astoria police officer; the other called the station, Johnston said.
Officers went to Cox-Brown's house and found a vehicle that matched the damage done to the two vehicles. Police also connected pieces from the crash scene to the vehicle registered to Cox-Brown.
"He denied it initially, and it wasn't until he was confronted with overwhelming evidence that he finally admitted to it," Johnston said.
Cox-Brown, who has more than 650 Facebook friends, did not immediately respond to a Facebook message from the AP seeking comment. He does not have a phone number listed in his name.
But in an interview with KATU News, Cox-Brown claimed he hit the cars due to icy weather conditions, not drunk driving. He said the post was all in fun. "Yeah, sure, I shouldn't have posted that," he said. "I kind of regret it, but it just got blown out of proportion, but I don't know."
He also said he has made similar posts in the past and his friends know he can be sarcastic.
A woman who said her husband got a message from Cox-Brown telling him he hit her car wants to know why he didn't stop at the time and then talked about it on Facebook.
"I'm like, why would you post that? I didn't have to do anything, he pretty much turned himself in," McKenzie Wilson said as she pointed out two spots on her Scion that were hit.
Cox-Brown was charged with failure to perform the duties of a driver. He was booked into the Clastsop County Jail and released on his own recognizance.
He has two prior arrests on burglary and criminal mischief charges.
Cox-Brown avoided a charge of drunken driving because he was interviewed hours after the incident and the Facebook post is not sufficient evidence that he was intoxicated.
"We can't just convict somebody based on the fact that they said they were drunk," Johnston said.
Johnston said the department is fairly active in social media and it has been useful in several cases.
He added that the takeaway from this case is not that people should be careful about what they post on Facebook: "No, the message is stop and contact people when you run into their cars."
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press and KATU News
Prior record, nail his stupid butt!
A face only a mother could love, and one I have a strange urge to slap.
I can't help but be reminded of Dean Wormer's words of wisdom:
"Fat, drunk and stupid is no way to go through life, son."
@Kaelha Damn good movie the first time I watched it. I have watched it probably more than a dozen times (some of them sober) and I STIll think it's a damn good one!
Even if he was interviewed hours after the incident, if he was really drunk wouldn't a policeman have noticed that? Â People have been arrested hours later with high blood alcohol content. Â I hope he didn't get off because it was hours later if he had actually been driving drunk. Â He has a pattern here shaping up to something pretty serious if he is not very, very careful.
Using FB is dumb enough, but getting busted for a DUI and hit and run by blabbering about your activities on FB, that tops the list of stupid things to do...
Duh...
Wow...K2 - You are so quick on the draw....yawn. This is old news now, as per other "channels".Â
 @washcomom I don't look at news much or much TV for that matter. This posting was the first I'd heard of it. Maybe you watch too much TV perhaps? :)
Some people have acquired the habit of sharing every last move and thought on Facebook iPeople who *over share* get blocked or unfriended on my Facebook.I prefer reading interesting,thought provoking posts and links over looking at pictures of people's cocktails.And never trust anyone.Thats why you never post incriminating info.
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Hey, it was just a video game in my head that I play all the time and there are no repercussions for my actions. Welcome to the new paradigm where kids believe there are no real repercussions to their actions because that is all they know from playing video games, until they are arrested...
 @boned Yeah, because before video games, this stuff NEVER happened.
 @boned really? you gotta try to blame this on video games? why not blame the kids?
Is anyone else a little nervous, that typing and  posting something on Facebook, could get your arrested??Â
@Keri Atkins Don't do stupid things that are against the law might be a good start. Then it won't matter what you put on your facebook.
 @Keri Atkins He wasn't arrested for posting something on Facebook. He was arrested for "failure to perform the duties of a driver". Should have been arrested for being ugly, but I guess that isn't a crime in Astoria.
 @Keri Atkins Posting on facebook won't get you arrested.  Leaving a trail of bread crumbs on facebook for the cops to find you after you've committed a crime most definitely will, no different than bragging to a stranger at a bar of a crime you just committed -- except in this case, this imbecile bragged to 650 people simultaneously.
> two Facebook friends of Cox-Brown contacted authorities...
> One of his friends sent a Facebook message to an Astoria police officer; the other called the station
Â
 FRIENDS? With friends like them, he needs no enemies.
He's yet another brilliant product of our public school system.
Â
He'll be back on the roads very soon if he isn't already.
Â
BTW: He wasn't charged with DUI.
Posting that you drove drunk isn't exactly evidence.
His lawyer will ask for witnesses. None.
Breath or blood test. None.
Exact location, day and time. Do they even have that?
Â
 @Mipsfer Maybe his "friends" actually care about him and didn't want him to die. Perhaps they were concerned that he might kill someone else? I turned in someone I love very much because they were driving drunk. So it can happen. Maybe he wasn't drunk, but he was stupid enough to think that posting so was funny and that shows a complete lack of judgement.  If this case helps to turn this idiot around in life, he will need to thank those "friends". They did the right thing and they shouldn't be made to feel like they did something wrong. This guy needs more friends to call him on his stupidity. If they did, maybe he'll turn into a productive member of society instead of a repeat drunk driver with a long criminal record. We see these guys all the time, 40 yrs old, no steady job, overweight and unhealthy from alcohol consumption, children he cannot support, repeated DUI's and theft convictions. All of this because they do not take personal responsibility for their actions and everyone around them enables their asinine behavior.
@Kaelha @Mipsfer Which means out of 650 "friends" he has 2 real friends. If home-slice ever gets his life together, I hope he remembers who helped him and realises the ones that thought it was funny are just a bunch of runny scabs, not friends. The word friend is the second most abused word in English, right behind love.
 @iamtroglodite@yahoo.com  @Kaelha  @Mipsfer Thanks, didn't catch the sarcasm. LMAO @ "home-slice"
 @Mipsfer There's a difference between friends and facebook friends.
Dumb a $ $. I be he is saying 'if I only had a brain, or even just a half a brain'.
Stupid is as Stupid does.
can't fix stupid
If his parents had brains, they would get him to AA before he has a more serious problem than hit and run. There are a lot of sad stories about booze and your future.....or lack thereof.
 @OCJohn Looking at the fact her has a record for 2 burgs and 1 crim misc, I suspect he's already got a 'more serious problem' called absolute lack of personal responsibility and is moving on to terminal stupidity with drinking and driving.
 @OCJohn He's 18 and his parents, if they're around,
probably booted him out on his birthday. I would.
 @Mipsfer  @OCJohn Because that solves everything.
The good thing is kids are stupid enough to post self incriminating things on Facebook...or Youtube, otherwise it might have been a mystery.
They allow guys like this idiot and his facebook friends to vote.  Well, that's how we got stuck with  the guy in the White House two terms in a row.  I'm sure they are all waiting patiently for the handouts he promised them.
 @boomer It takes a special kind of crazy to relate anything and everything to politics/The President.  Go take your meds.
@boomer Change your tune boomer, and get over it.
 @boomer hate to rain on the parade, but TWO of his facebook friendo's turned him in. You are saying responsible citizens shouldn't be allowed to vote? go drink a brewski
Hmmm... 18 year old smart-mouth, thinks he's "funny"... drives drunk (or said he did, anyway), hits 2 cars, takes off, then posts the whole thing on FB, like it's something he did that he should be proud of...
Frankly,. I'll be surprised if this guy makes it to age 21 and hasn't taken out an innocent person or 2... It's too bad they can't sentence these young punks to spend some Friday & Saturday 2nd & 3rd shift hours in the ER, observing some of the injured people brought in from major traffic crashes... and maybe watch while a doctor has to tell someone that their loved one won't be coming home to them - ever.
This guy has a LOT to learn... I hope he does it before he kills or maims someone...
Here's the real irony. This guy, this fine example of an MTV generation teenager, has over (650) Facebook friends? So there are 650 people that are impressed enough with this guy to call him a "friend"? That's the sad part.
@last boyscout That is the number of third graders in Clatsop County.
 @last boyscout Well, at least 2 of those 650 were willing to send his post to the police. Otherwise, what you are saying regarding the remaining 648 is probably true.
"He was booked into the Clastsop County Jail..."Â Wherever that is...
@HenryBowman Somewhere in Clatsop County. Actualy I think Astoria is in C.C.
 @HenryBowman Check the spelling.
I wish KATU would take his foolish face off the home page. He's no role model.
 @special effects I think it would be terribly boring, and also just plain wrong, if KATU only pictured "role models".
On the other hand I guess it's good to show everyone how stupid this young man is maybe he will grow up.
The little eff-wad obviously doesn't take it seriously. Â I hope that when he finally is involved in a fatal DUI, that he only takes himself out.
Â
 @negativerep ~  Y'know, what I can't figure out is why these DUII's don't hit EACH OTHER more often...  Instead, they only seem to crash into innocent people in other cars, on bicycles or motorcycles, or on foot...Â
@margay1 @negativerep Good question. I am sure victims families wonder the same thing.
Kudos to those who called the cops on him.
He burped during the interview as if he had been drinking beer.
Around 57 seconds into the video.