Bar, Server Cited in Deaths (NM-Outrage of the day)

The Albuquerque Journal ^ | April 18, 2006 | Associated Press

[eastforker]

My bad , I read of as at.

[Navy Patriot]

There is no logic here. This is another case of authorities being given a common sense law that could be useful for the protection of the general public and twisting the intention of the law to a usage that was unintended and not contemplated by the lawmakers. This indicates a lack of ethics by the police and prosecutors and any judge that will hear this indictment. Any judge should dismiss, failing that a jury should nullify.

[battousai]

I think people are missing the point here because its burried in the article:

"The division had previously cited the Horse & Angel Tavern for over-serving Gabriel Gurule, the driver of the vehicle that crashed into the cab. Toxicology tests showed Gurule's blood-alcohol content was more than twice the legal limit of 0.08 percent. Gurule pleaded no contest in March to three counts of homicide by motor vehicle and one count of great bodily injury."

The bar had also over-served the guy who ultimately killed the other two, I think the cops are just throwing every thing they can at them to make sure something sticks.

[BenLurkin]

bump

[Liberty Valance]

oh good grief! Lunacy! why don't they just dig up the dead cab riders and fine them too!!!

[brownsfan]

"Backdoor prohibition."

I agree 100%.

[CedarDave]

Here's a link to the original journal article (November 25, 2005).

http://www.abqjournal.com/news/metro/410986metro11-25-05.htm

There was a passenger in the car driven by the drunk driver and the accident happened about 2 a.m. which is the closing hour for bars in ABQ, IIRC.

[freepatriot32]

ping

[Heyworth]

The bar had also over-served the guy who ultimately killed the other two,

No, the two guys in the cab had been drinking at a place called Malarkey's. The drunk driver had been at the Horse and Angel Tavern, which was separately cited.

[CedarDave]

There are two bars involved -- the one that served the passengers and the one that served the drunk driver. The one that served the drunk driver was rightly cited under the law (though I may disagree with it). They used the same law to cite the bar that served the passengers, though the passengers didn't commit any crime and indeed by taking a cab were avoiding committing a crime by not driving drunk.

I added Texas to the topics because that state is citing people in bars, even hotel bars where they go to their room after drinking in the bar.

[beelzepug]

"There is no logic here"

But there is. It is against the law to knowingly overserve a bar patron. While this can certainly be used (and often is) as a "gotcha" by the liquor authories against an establishment with a history of trouble, any bartender who can't tell that a customer who turns out to have a BAC of .298 is too intoxicated to be served deserves to slapped hard. This is just an example of the police writing up everyone who had anything to do with this avoidable mess.

[CedarDave]

Oh good grief! Lunacy! why don't they just dig up the dead cab riders and fine them too!!!

In Texas they would have been stopped from getting in the cab and would instead have taken a ride to jail.

[ContemptofCourt]

I'm not so sure a bartender should be serving someone whose BAL is a .3...that's pretty hammered.

[massgopguy]

If only there had been some Texas Rangers in the bar to arrest the guys before they could call the cab.

[Dead Corpse]

Exactly. Here we go again...

[CedarDave]

I'm not sure why the cops tested the victims of the crash as they were not driving but were just the passengers. If they had focused only on the person responsible and not the victims this whole issue would have been avoided.

[jw777]

Oh, I think COngress should investigate. We can't have drunk people calling cabs.

[thefactor]

for something like this, the cops should have written the summonses, IF AND ONLY IF the officers were doing an inspection of the bar and physically saw these guys sitting at the bar with drinks they were served.

the bar was written after the fact, after they had left the bar. we have no idea how these guys had gotten so drunk. if they had brought their own flask to the bar unbeknownst to the bartender, what then? this seems to be a little over the top.

but i can only assume the cops went to the bar and interviewed the bartenders about what they served the patrons and then summonsed them.

[Navy Patriot]

The purpose of the law is to promote public safety. Reasonable. The use of the law (here) is to acquire assets for failure to guarantee private safety. Impossible and unreasonable. Destructive to the public trust in the authorities. Always ends badly for both the state and the people.

[CedarDave]

Good point. As it appears the citation is strictly a result of the BAC of the cab passengers, the state agency is assuming all the alcohol consumed was from the bar. Also, the bartender/waitress may have performed a good deed by making sure they didn't drive and took a cab instead. At look at the result -- they are the one's cited. What irony. What lunacy!