Affluenza On The Run

Jack Baruth
by Jack Baruth

When Ethan Couch killed four people in an alcohol-related crash, his attorney argued that he suffered from “affluenza” — an inability to understand consequences brought on by a life of pampering and kid-glove treatment from his wealthy parents. To nearly everyone’s surprise, it worked, and Couch received nothing more than probation for his actions.

Earlier this month, a video of Couch attending a beer-pong party and sitting at a chair with a can of beer went viral, leading members of the community to demand that the court take action. But now Couch, and his mother, have gone missing, and local authorities think it might be an attempt to flee the country.

“With the wealth and the wherewithal that his family has, it’s going to be a tough assignment for us to find him,” Tarrant County Sheriff Dee Anderson said Wednesday.

Earlier this month, a video claiming to show Couch playing beer pong — another potential probation violation — reignited public outrage surrounding the case.

On Tuesday, Couch’s attorneys announced that the teen’s probation officer hasn’t been able to reach him and his mother for several days. Tarrant County’s probation department has ordered authorities to take Couch into custody if they see him.

The district attorney’s office said it is still investigating the beer pong video and declined to comment Wednesday on allegations that he violated probation. It did say, however, that violations could bring up to 10 years in jail.

“It’s one of those times when you hate to say ‘I told you so,’ but I told you so,” the sheriff said. “I knew he was going to end up in more trouble.”

Speculation that Couch and his mother have fled the country to avoid “big-boy jail” has run rampant. Attorneys for Couch claim that neither they nor Couch’s father are aware of the the young man’s whereabouts. The legal team is now refusing to comment further.

Speaking personally for a moment, I cannot imagine that Ethan Couch would find ten years in a Texas prison to be anything besides utterly devastating. His parents have probably made the same calculation. It’s easy to sit here with the Hammer of Internet Justice in my hand and condemn these parents for repeatedly enabling their kid, but I have to wonder just how far I would go to keep my son out of the penitentiary. In that context, fleeing the country doesn’t seem that outrageous.

Drunk driving is one of those felonies for which international extradition is almost nonexistent; however, if the federal government really wants you, they can and will snatch you out of a Spanish airport on the flimsiest pretext and nobody’s going to stop them. Ethan and his mom should probably restrict their travel to South America and the like.

Of course, the whole thing could have been avoided had Ethan treated his probation like something other than a big joke, but doesn’t that just prove that he had “affluenza” after all?

Jack Baruth
Jack Baruth

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  • VolandoBajo VolandoBajo on Dec 21, 2015

    @formula m Owning a gun does not in any way imply that the owner has pretty much made up their mind to murder some one. All that can logically be concluded if the gun is not strictly for sport shooting or hunting is that the owner is prepared to shoot, and possibly kill (not necessarily murder) someone, should such a step be necessary for self defense or the defense of an innocent third party. A handgun (357 Dan Wesson) once saved my life...three drunk and drugged young men on an icy road at night, in a small pickup, all over three lanes on an almost deserted interstate...cut me off driving home from a fourteen hour work day. I honked my horn when they cut in on me for no discernible reason, whereupon they spent the next ten or fifteen minutes trying to run me off the road. I ended up in pulling into the parking lot of an all night convenience store, and hurried inside to get them to call for police assistance. The three hotheads came in about ten or fifteen seconds behind me, ready to work me over with a pipe wrench, a knife and I didn't catch what the third was holding. As they approached, I drew my 357 and the "leader" of the pack shouted to the guy nearest me that it wasn't loaded...a mistake or deliberate lie on his part. When the nearest guy stepped closer, the thought crossed my mind that as f'ed up as they were, that they were somebody's brother or son, and that I had time to fire off at least one warning shot before I would need to drill anyone to protect myself. When I cranked off a shot into the terrazzo (hard marble) floor right between me and the nearest guy, they looked genuinely surprised to discover that I wasn't playing, and headed for the door. Right behind them two plainclothes cops came in, while I still had my gun in my hand. I surrendered it and told them what had happened. They caught the three guys. Ultimately I got my gun back. The instigator got ninety days. I declined to press charges against the other two, as they had mostly just stood around watching what the guy who was trying to egg them on tried to get me to take a fall. I never intended to murder anyone, but as a former Marine, I clearly would have no problem taking someone else's life if they were trying to take mine or an innocent person's. After I remarried, and our son was born, I got rid of my guns, because my wife was scared of them being in the house, so these days I rely on my hand to hand combat training, plus a nice "carry" lockback knife to provide whatever assistance I might need. I am not a hothead, don't try to throw my weight around, and don't impair myself for relaxation or enjoyment. So I consider that having the means to defend myself, whatever those means might be, are just that...a means of defending myself should it become necessary. Better to be judged by twelve, than to be carried by six. Had I not had that firearm that night, I never would have had close to a quarter century with the love of my life, and we would never have had our son, who is as fine and goodhearted a young man as I have ever seen. Should it have been necessary to ice one or all of those three hoodlums, there is no moral calculus you can come up with that would convince me that my life, my marriage and our son should have been sacrificed in order for three drunken and drugged hotheads to be able to go on a rage. I am glad that if I had to go through something like that, it was in a Southern state with an open carry law, and where there was not an automatic presumption that the user of a firearm was the instigator. If carrying a firearm meant that you had already decided to "murder" someone under certain circumstances, I would have iced the nearest guy the minute he made a move to come at me, and taken the other two out right behind him unless they had turned their backs and were fleeing. All you can conclude about a person who owns a firearm is that they might be willing to use it for self-defense. It might be used otherwise, but ownership per se is NOT evidence of a premeditated acceptance of murdering anyone. Your statement is both narrow-minded and illogical. And the glib acceptance of such an assertion is what inhibits so many people from being certain that they can defend themselves and/or their loved ones. Gun laws may help put away criminals who commit crimes using them, but they are not a deterrent to criminals before they commit a crime. If a criminal is willing to rob and/or kill, they will be willing to own an illegal firearm as well. And outlawing guns only means that outlaws/criminals can be more readily assured that they can dominate innocent civilians by the use of an illegal firearm, when the legal ownership of guns by ordinary citizens is banned.

    • Formula m Formula m on Dec 22, 2015

      That sounds scary but it sounds to me like the difference in you shooting people or not depends on your mood. I can be a hothead, I have thrown my weight around, I do impair myself for relaxation and enjoyment. What's your point?

  • Lou_BC Lou_BC on Dec 28, 2015

    I just read that the little sh!t and his mother got busted in Puerto Vallarta. No more excuses. Hard time!

    • See 1 previous
    • DenverMike DenverMike on Jan 01, 2016

      Best Mexican food in the world and they go and order pizza?? That's what gave them away to the federales.

  • Slavuta Inflation creation act... 2 thoughts1, Are you saying Biden admin goes on the Trump's MAGA program?2, Protectionism rephrased: "Act incentivizes automakers to source materials from free-trade-compliant countries and build EVs in North America"Question: can non-free-trade country be a member of WTO?
  • EBFlex China can F right off.
  • MrIcky And tbh, this is why I don't mind a little subsidization of our battery industry. If the American or at least free trade companies don't get some sort of good start, they'll never be able to float long enough to become competitive.
  • SCE to AUX Does the WTO have any teeth? Seems like countries just flail it at each other like a soft rubber stick for internal political purposes.
  • Peter You know we’ve entered the age of self driving vehicles When KIAs go from being stolen to rolling away by themselves.
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