Not influenza, “affluenza.”
Not influenza, “affluenza.”
The term — a play on the words “affluent” and the common flu — surfaced during the February 2014 sentencing of Texas teen Ethan Couch. He was the privileged 16-year-old charged with manslaughter and assault after he struck and killed four pedestrians in June 2013 while driving under the influence of alcohol, marijuana and Valium.
A psychologist hired by his defense team testified that Couch could not understand the consequences of his actions, that he didn’t know right from wrong, because he was raised in a wealthy household and coddled by his parents. It was an odd defense strategy, but it worked. Couch pleaded guilty to all charges. Prosecutors sought a 20-year prison sentence, but Couch got just 10 years of probation and was ordered to go to rehab.
That sparked a national debate about whether wealthy kids catch breaks from the criminal justice system that poor kids would not get — and about how loony the idea of “affluenza” was.
More than two years after the accident, Couch, now 18, might finally face some real jail time. He and his mother were detained Monday evening in Mexico for allegedly violating his terms of probation. He’s suspected of trying to flee the U.S. after a short video was posted on social media that showed Couch at a party where others were playing beer pong, a drinking game. His probation forbids alcohol consumption.
What will his defense team say this time? An affluenza relapse? Couch is a case study in astoundingly disastrous parenting.
In depositions provided in civil lawsuits filed after Couch’s fatal car accident, and in other court documents, Couch’s parents, Tonya and Fred Couch, admitted that their son had access to drugs and alcohol at an early age. He was allowed to drive to his private school when he was 13. He often stayed by himself or with friends, largely unsupervised, at his family’s second home.
D Magazine, a Dallas-based publication, wrote in a May 2015 story titled “The Worst Parents Ever” that months before the fatal accident, Couch got caught relieving himself in a store parking lot. He was with a nude 14-year-old girl and had a bottle of booze in his car. Police decided only to ticket him. …
Couch was drinking with friends the night of the accident. Toxicology reports showed he had more than three times the adult legal limit of alcohol in his system — he was 16, couldn’t legally drink a drop.
He was driving a large pickup truck, with friends in the bed of the truck, more than 70 mph down a rural road when he plowed into a car and four pedestrians who were along the side of the road.
Now Couch and his mother have been picked up in Mexico — the resort town of Puerto Vallarta, natch.
Mexican and U.S. law enforcement officials say Couch will be brought back to Texas to face charges of violating probation. His mother could face charges.
This whole case is so outlandish that it’s risky to draw parallels to other parents. …
Just a reminder that the best things parents can teach are discipline, boundaries, respect and right from wrong.
— Chicago Tribune