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"Affluenza" Teen's Dad Was Just Arrested

by Abby Johnston

In 2013, Ethan Couch made waves when he received probation for killing four people in a drunk-driving accident — because his parents argued he had "affluenza," a.k.a. a condition caused by extreme wealth and bad parenting. Now, the family is back in the news, because Ethan's father Frederick Couch was arrested Tuesday for impersonating a police officer.

The incident in question kicked off a few weeks ago, when Couch allegedly showed up to the home of Texas resident Keith Capo with a gun. Couch was with one of Capo's neighbors, and Couch allegedly came armed and allegedly looking for confrontation, so Capo's wife called the cops.

When the police showed up, they were "gung-ho," according to Capo, and asked whether he wanted to press charges for the incident. Capo said Couch showed the officers something out of his wallet, and the police lost their fire for justice. Capo noted an apparent cooling off according to an interview with an NBC affiliate in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.

"All of a sudden the police attitude toward me was, "Do you really want to do this?" Capo said.

Turns out, Couch had shown the police officers a badge and claimed to be a policeman in the Fort Worth suburb of Lakeside. Everyone involved was allowed to leave the scene without arrest.

"Well, now it makes sense," Capo said in the NBC interview, referencing the cops' sudden change of heart.

The police contend that Couch's lie about his profession had nothing to do with their treatment of the incident. Regardless, he was arrested on Tuesday, three weeks after Couch's very serious game of dress-up. He was released on a $2,500 bail.

NBC 5

Turns out that Couch has a veritable laundry list of police scrapes, none of which he has served jail time for. There were 22 total accusations on the record before this one

including a slew of traffic violations and writing bad checks. You might remember that Couch's son Ethan was sentenced to 10 years probation after killing four people and injuring two others when he crashed his car under the influence of alcohol. His defense argued that Ethan suffered from "affluenza," or the lack of a link between actions and consequences that is birthed from being rich and having bad parents. Really. Since the controversial sentence was handed down, the Couch family has paid millions in lawsuits to the families of the crash victims.