DALLAS—Ethan Couch was behind the wheel of a pickup truck, reeking of booze when police confronted him. He had no driver’s license. Next to him was a passed-out, half-naked girl, and an open vodka bottle lay on the backseat floor.
Still, as one officer reported, the skinny, blond 15-year-old mouthed off as they questioned him. He said he had taken pre-law classes and knew what police could and couldn’t do to him. The officer cautioned him about the perils of drinking and driving, according to court records obtained by The Associated Press.
“I spoke with him at some length about the various consequences of his driving and drinking,” wrote Fort Worth, Texas, police officer W.E. Spakes, “such as effects on (his) driver’s license and his path in life, especially DWI and even killing someone in a DWI.”
Couch left that night in February 2013 with two citations and his mother, Tonya, who was called to the scene. Four months later, he drove drunk into a group of people helping a stranded motorist, killing four.
Long before Couch and his family became notorious for using an “affluenza” defense in that crash, they had multiple run-ins with the law, often flouting authority or relying on personal wealth to get out of trouble. The incidents, totaling at least 20, ranged from speeding tickets and financial disputes to reckless driving and assault, a review of police and court records shows.
On Thursday, Couch returned to the United States from Mexico, where he and his mother had fled in December after a video surfaced online appearing to show him at a party where people were drinking — a potential violation of the terms of his probation for the fatal accident.
A psychologist who evaluated Couch in 2013 introduced the “affluenza” term at trial in reference to Couch being coddled by his wealthy parents. He testified that Couch learned nothing from that first incident, court records show. The teen didn’t think he had done anything serious, Dr. G. Dick Miller said, and his mother lied to his father about it.
