"After the post was made, an Astoria police officer received a private Facebook message from someone who tipped her off to Cox-Brown’s post."
I commend whoever reported this to the authorities. People who drive drunk are disgraceful human beings. You are not so important or special that you can endanger the lives of your fellow humans for no other reason than you are incapable of self control.
And yes, he was arrested not simply for posting the message. He was arrested because the police went to investigate, after receiving the tip, and discovered that his car matched the evidence from a reported hit-n-run from the same evening.
This sort of thing is relatively common in Britain.
After the riots in 2011, several people were arrested and jailed, some for fairly lengthy periods (years) for posting that they were going to start rioting in various towns.
Most didn't actually get involved in the physical confrontation or violence, or even leave their houses, but were charged with "incitement."
There have been similar cases since for less serious matters, particularly when it comes to messages posted on Twitter. I don't recall all the details, but someone was arrested for "threatening" an Olympic diver on the site a few weeks ago.
It's sad that this news story doesn't even shock me. It's so common here now. (Mind you, this lad looks like he'd be safer off the roads.)
I've asked all my lawyer friends this question and they all sort of puzzle over it; maybe I can get some insight here:
If I walk into a police station and say "I was about to rob a bank, I'd like to turn myself in" without taking any realistic steps to actually robbing the bank, am I prosecutable?
That is not a very good analogy to 'incitement' in the parent comment.
A better example would be explaining to the police that you loudly and publically encouraged your buddies to start a brawl in the pub but then left the scene before the fists started to fly.
I'm not sure where free speech legally becomes incitement though but I'm pretty sure it involves encouraging other people to do something rather then failing to convince yourself.
While technically true, he was arrested some time after posting "drivin drunk," he wasn't arrested because he posted on facebook.
His facebook post gave LEOs a clue into a hit and run accident. When they followed up on the facebook post clue, they found corroborating evidence matching the crime scene.
It's important to point out that he wasn't arrested merely because he posted a message on Facebook. That was just a tip that lead to concrete evidence of the crime, namely his damaged vehicle. Cops follow leads all the time, and Facebook is a part of the ecosystem now.
I commend whoever reported this to the authorities. People who drive drunk are disgraceful human beings. You are not so important or special that you can endanger the lives of your fellow humans for no other reason than you are incapable of self control.
And yes, he was arrested not simply for posting the message. He was arrested because the police went to investigate, after receiving the tip, and discovered that his car matched the evidence from a reported hit-n-run from the same evening.