“My name is Matthew Cordle, and on June 22nd, 2013, I hit and killed Vincent Canzani. This video will act as my confession.”
Those chilling words come from a stunning video in which a guilt-wracked Ohio man confesses to killing an elderly driver last June in a wrong-way highway crash after a night of heavy drinking.
Cordle, 22, says in the video he “made a mistake” when he decided to drive his truck home after “drinking really heavily” and killing Canzani, 61, of suburban Columbus.
The video – posted on the non-profit Ohio-based Web site becauseisaidiwould.com – begins with Cordle’s face pixelated and his voice distorted.
He blames his drinking on depression, saying alcohol lets him “get out of my head for a few hours” but also gets him in trouble.
“ I’ve ruined relationships in the past. I start fights,” he says.
“On that particular night, I made a mistake and got in my truck, really blacked out, and decided to try to drive home. I ended up going the wrong way down the highway directly into oncoming traffic. I struck a car. I killed a man,” he says.
With sombre music in the background, the tattooed Cordle’s face becomes clear as he reveals his name and confesses that he killed Canzani.
“Immediately following that, I consulted some high-powered attorneys who told me stories about similar cases, where the drivers got off,” he says. “They were convinced that they could get my blood tests thrown out, and all I would have to do for that is lie. Well I won’t go down that path,” he said.
“When I get charged I’ll plead guilty and take full responsibility for everything I’ve done to Vincent and his family,” Cordle says.
Later, he says he understands that by releasing the video he’s giving prosecutors “everything they need to put me away for a very long time.”
And Franklin County prosecutor Ron O’Brien said Thursday he watched the damning video and downloaded a copy as evidence.
He said he’ll ask a grand jury to indict Cordle for aggravated vehicular homicide with an alcohol specification, which could land him behind bars for up to eight years if he’s convicted.
O’Brien said Cordle’s blood sample from the night of the crash tested positive for alcohol and negative for drugs.
Defense attorney George Breitmayer III said the video “is a strong testament” to Cordle’s character and that his client will cooperate with prosecutors.
Police in June said Canzani died at the scene after his Jeep was struck on Interstate 670.
Cordle ends the video confession by “begging” people not to drive drunk.
“I beg you, and I say the word beg specifically, I’m begging you, please don’t drink and drive. I can’t bring Mr. Canzani back, and I can’t erase what I’ve done, but you can still be saved. Your victims can still be saved. So, please,” Cordle says before a message appears on the darkened screen: “make the promise to never drink and drive.”
The Web site where the video first appeared – it has since gone viral on YouTube and elsewhere – was founded by Alex Sheen in honor of his father after he died of lung cancer last September.
“I, like any son, want to remember the best of my father, but he was nothing particularly press worthy. He wasn’t an award winning author. He never met the President. He was no war hero. But what my dad did do was keep a promise. If he said he was going to do it, it would certainly be done,” Sheen wrote on the Web site.
He describes the site as “ a social movement dedicated to bettering humanity through the power of a promise. “
The organization – which also sells T-shirts and other memorabilia on the site – sends “promise cards” anywhere in the world allowing people to make promises in writing.
Cordle fills out a card during the video.
Sheen, a 2007 Ohio University grad living in Lakewood, says on the site that he debated posting Cordle’s video confession on the site, which does not feature any other confessions or usually deal with crime.
“I know that everyone will not agree with my decision to get involved. I decided to help because the man who is sitting in this chair has something to say that I believe you should hear,” Sheen says.
With AP