Posted on 06/23/2011 1:46:12 AM PDT by Paleo Conservative
No charges will be lodged against West Chester bar for serving "Jackass" star, state police say
"Jackass" star Ryan Dunn drank six shots and two beers at Barnaby's in West Chester before getting behind the wheel early Monday morning, Pennsylvania State Police say.
Police say that Dunn was legally drunk at the time of the accident that killed him and a friend early Monday morning.
Dunn’s blood alcohol level was .196 – twice that of the state’s legal limit of .08 -- when he crashed his Porshe on Rt. 322 killing himself and his passenger Zach Hartwell, according to police.
“No other substances were found in his blood other than alcohol,” Police Chief Michael Carroll told The Reporter.
State police say no charges are planned against Barnaby's bar where Dunn and Hartwell drank just before they died in a fiery one-car crash.
Sgt. William La Torre of the police Bureau of Liquor Enforcement tells The Associated Press that the agency has determined that Dunn was apparently not visibly intoxicated when he was served two beers and six shots by bar employees over four hours.
La Torre said fans and other people, not bar staff, apparently brought Dunn three more drinks at a back table out of sight of the bartender at the end of the night.
Both Dunn and Hartwell died of blunt and thermal trauma when Dunn lost control of his car -- which police say was traveling at a speed of 130 to 140 mph -- flew over the guardrail, slammed into a tree and burst into flames less than 100 yards from Hartwell’s home in Chester County, Pa.
The men were seen at Barnaby’s in West Chester Sunday night into early Monday, before the two left in Dunn’s vehicle.
A Barnaby’s manager told NBC Philadelphia yesterday that Dunn did not seem drunk when he was leaving the bar.
I watched all that I could stand of a Jackass movie.
“Meaningless Risk-Taking Dumbass” would be the title I would give it.
This accident is no surprise.
“Jackass” finally won the Darwin prize.
It would be the height of irony if a bar was held liable in any way for contributing to the demise of a moron whose cinema exploits have contributed in so many ways to the injuries of emulating fellow morons.
Too bad he wasn't driving a Corvete or a Ferari. He might have survived.
Lightweight
It’s a miracle that he didn’t take more victims with him. It’s a senseless, stupid tragedy. Grown men behaving like teenagers, worse. My teen would never do such
a thing.
Oh boy, it is fortunate that the road had no other traffic at the time. I tend to be libertarian as far as anyone wants to be a jackass to his or her own personal risk, I sure would not recommend it but would not ban it either, but it is simply beyond the pale to take other unwilling parties into the wager.
Once bars sell pitchers & buckets, it is hard to hold them liable for anything. When I was in college someone ld enough would go up to the bar, and come back with a pitcher & a stack of cups to a table where a lot of people weren’t even 20 yet. The witnesses who say he seemed fine leaving the bar are probably telling the truth, as it takes time for alcohol to hit the bloodstream.
A few years back in NJ a bartender told me they were no longer responsible for serving people; I didn’t believe that could entirely be true.
http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=true&mediaKey=9ede0d6e-7493-48ce-93fb-c6e4bb483d89
Here’s a video from TMZ where his friend, Bam, talks about Dunn’s driving history (not good)
Here’s the story (w/ video) that goes with the link above
Erm, not that easy. If he had crashed that Porsche at a track (and honestly, the GT3 is a track car) he would have probably have survived. However, on a B-road in rural PA, a road that has (according to people from there) some potholes and is uneven, at speeds between 130-140mph, and slamming against a tree (all put together = chances are he slammed at an angle) means that even if he was in a 'vette (or better yet) a Ferrari he would not have survived. Actually, as a track car, the GT3 has far better features than ANY un-modded Corvette and most Ferraris (apart from the track-modded Ferraris, and the top-model types that have some unique protective-cell features).
Thus, on a track, he would actually have been safer in the GT3 than in any (un-modded) Corvette, and safer than in most Ferraris.
On a road ...at those speeds ...hitting a tree ....he would have been dead in any of the three cars. There are too many variables on roads for one to make a statement like the one you made. Look at Princess Diana ...died in a Mercedes S-Class. Engine went all the way from the front to the back IIRC. Or look at that European extreme-right-wing politician (Austria's Joerg Haider) who died when his Volkswagen Phaeton (the top of the range VW that is a direct competitor to the Mercedes S and BMW 7, and is also exceptionally safe) got into an accident. Those cars have safety ratings that are off the charts, and in the real world will probably save your @$$ 9 times out of ten. However, the real world also has curve balls, hence Princess Diana and Haider's deaths. In Haider's case, the Phaeton (one of the safest cars in the world) was travelling at only 88mph. However looking at the pictures it seemed like it was dropped from orbit ...spawning (the usual) conspiracy theories that it was a hit. A Phaeton should have easily survived, but this time it did not. Real world physics + Murphy's law worked against him. He could have had the same accident 100 times over and survived without injury, but this one time he died. Even Obama's Beast, as nigh-invincible as it is, has some limits that it cannot exceed.
Saying he might have survived were he driving Corvette or Ferrari is tantamount to saying he would have survived had he been driving a blue Porsche with 25% window tint or Black Porsche with Chrome rims or a silver Porsche with a rosary in the rear-view mirror. I.E. no difference. You can only smash into something so fast before it hurts you, especially if you are trying to wrap yourself around a tree at 130-140 mph. BTW, you do know the GT3 has a fire retardant system (being a track car) that 'civilian' Corvettes and Ferraris do not have? GT3s even have fire-retardant fabric inside. I believe this GT3 burst into flame.
In short, hit a tree at a certain speed or above, and the question is not whether or not the car will save you but rather whether Superman is a direct genetic relation or not. The same crash (emphasise same) in a Corvette or Ferrari, and he would still have died. Change the angle a bit, the speed a bit, the point at which he lost control a bit, the angle of attack relative to forward motion once the car went airborne, the amount of fuel in the gastank (and its effect on relative buoyancy once he took off), whether he had had one drink less and thus started braking 20 feet earlier (100 ft vs 120 ft), if he had eaten a heavier breakfast and had better balanced blood-sugar levels, etc etc etc and he may have survived in the GT3.
Or in all, under the same circumstances, the G-force alone may have killed him even if he was in a tank going from 140mph-to-0 in a second. Looking at racing (I am a racing fan, F1, and also own a rather fast 2-seater Benz ...which is almost useless on most roads where I live) I have seen some BAD crashes where some people walk away unharmed, and other seeming benign crashes where the driver dies (e.g. F1s Senna, whose crash did not seem that bad ...but according to forensic reports that crash killed him in 3 different ways!!!). I believe it is the same in NASCAR ...BAD crashes that the driver survives, and not-so-bad crashes where the driver is killed.
Same exact crash (if one could magically recreate it to be exactly the same) in a 'vette or Ferrari, and he would have died. The average GT3 was actually a safer car than the average Corvette or Ferrari (nb: average GT3 vs average Ferrari/Corvette, not specialized versions of each ....although it should be noted that the base GT3 is actually a specialized version of the Porsche 911). However, lower (or increase) tire pressue, and he may have 'walked' away crippled rather than dead.
All that typing and you totally missed my point.
Thats some pretty hard drinking for a Monday night.
My youngest is a college student turning 20 soon and it’s because of guys like this (and worse) that I hold to a midnight curfew when she’s home. I pray that she’s wise when she’s away.
Neither she nor her friends are partiers—just young adults who are night owls and like to hang out together... But nothing good happens after midnight and the odds of some drunken, drugged up jackass or freak with evil in his heart hurting her on the way home goes up exponentially the later it gets.
I’m blessed in that she’s respectful of it and has never pitched a fit over such an early curfew.
Speed kills. Alcohol + speed only makes it a little more probable, especially if you’re one of the Jackass stunt performers. Steve-O’s damned lucky that he isn’t dead from an OD, accidental firearm discharge or a nasty fall. The distinct possibility of sudden death seems to have come with the territory for guys like that.
Which was?
Good thing he wasn’t airborne at the controls of an airplane.
They say that most accidents happen within 5 miles of home. That's why I moved. Couldn't take the risk.
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