Ohio man says he partly regrets video confession to killing driver
ORIENT, Ohio – An Ohio man who confessed in an online video to killing another driver in a wrong-way crash after a night of drinking said he’s being held accountable for his choices but partly regrets making the video because it hurt his family.
Matthew Cordle, 23, is serving a 6½-year sentence in Pickaway County and is part of a prison program for offenders with substance abuse problems, which means he isn’t behind bars in a cell, WBNS-TV reported. Cordle compares it to boot camp.
“You’re 100 percent accountable for what’s happened up until now” in your life, Cordle told the station. He said other prisoners call him “YouTube.”
Cordle, who was sentenced in October, said he made the confession video last year to accept responsibility and urge others not to drink and drive.
He gets letters from across the country and sends some of them to his sister, Sarah, who posts them to Cordle’s “Save Your Victim” blog and website, intended to get people thinking about how poor decisions could hurt not only the decision-makers but strangers or relatives, too.
She said the attention her brother’s video drew was difficult for their family.
“It was tough to see his face everywhere and the video over and over again because it just made what he did real,” she told WBNS.
The daughter of the man Cordle killed, 61-year-old Vincent Canzani of suburban Columbus, complained last year the video took the focus off her father’s death. WBNS said Canzani’s family didn’t respond to an interview request.