Bartender arrested for "over serving" man who then killed 8 people?

[biosurfer1]

This seems wrong. Serving someone too much is already a questionable arrest in my mind, but this seems even more suspect since she seems to have gone out of her way to stop him and warn people.

.33 is a crazy high blood alcohol level, but I've known guys who probably had close to that and were able to function. Also, the guy flashing a knife and gun may have set off alarms in California, but in Texas??

https://www.cnn.com/2019/05/08/us/bartender-arrested-intoxicated-man-shooting/index.html


"A bartender has been arrested more than a year and half after she served a man drinks before he went on a shooting spree and killed eight people at a football watch party.

The bartender, Lindsey Glass, 27, was arrested and charged last week with selling alcohol to an intoxicated person in violation of part of the Texas alcoholic beverage code that prohibits "Sale to Certain Persons." The charge is a misdemeanor, her attorney, Scott Palmer, told CNN Wednesday.
Glass was working at Local Public House in Plano, Texas, on September 10, 2017, when she served Spencer Hight five drinks before he left the bar and shot his estranged wife and seven other people, according to a police report.
Hight was served four times by Glass during two visits, according to the arrest affidavit. The first visit was near 2:30 in the afternoon and the second visit was about four hours later. He drank two well gins in the afternoon and two beers and a shot in the latter visit.
The affidavit states that Glass texted a coworker, Timothy Banks, from the bar about her concern over Hight's behavior and asked him to come talk to Hight, according to the police report.
In the texts, Glass tells Banks that Hight is "drunk and being weird" and "keeps saying he has to put someone in his place," the affidavit says. She also said in texts, "I think he was at another bar while he was gone."
Hight was seen on surveillance video from the bar walking into tables, spinning a knife with about a 6.5-inch blade and pulling a gun from his waistband, according to the affidavit.
When Banks arrived at the bar, Hight told him that he had to "take care of business" and "put someone in their place," the police report stated.
Both Glass and Banks tried to stop Hight from leaving the bar property and then left the bar to try to locate him, according to the affidavit.
After they found Hight at the house where the shootings later occurred, Glass called 911 and reported she had a friend in danger who was in possession of a gun and a knife, according to the warrant.
The police report says Banks drove Glass back to the bar, then headed to the house, which belonged to Hight's estranged wife. She and friends were inside watching the Dallas Cowboys game. Banks flagged down a uniformed Collin County Sheriff's Deputy and told him about Hight's concerning behavior, but they were unable to reach the scene before emergency crews began responding to the shooting, according to the police report.
A Plano police officer responded to the scene and shot and killed Hight during a shootout, Plano Police Chief Greg Rushin said in 2017.
Hight was found to have a blood alcohol content of .333 during an autopsy, more than four times the legal limit.
Palmer, Glass' attorney, said in a statement Tuesday that "Lindsey was the only person who tried to stop Hight."
Palmer says that during her interviews with detectives, they commended her for her actions and the lives that she saved.
The Plano Police Department issued a warrant for Glass on the same day a civil suit against her was dismissed, Palmer's statement said.
"When Lindsey went to work on September 10, 2017 there was no suggestion that her life would change forever -- certainly no suggestion that (Spencer) Hight would do something to forever change Lindsey's life. But as the events of that evening slowly unfolded into a gory and tragic climax, Lindsey stands as the only person who tried to stop Spencer Hight. To prosecute her for her acts that night is wrong," the attorney's statement said.
No court date has been set yet for the case, Palmer told CNN. Glass faces a $100 to $500 fine, a year in jail, or both, if she's convicted."

[speeder]

Anyone working in the hospitality industry who serves alcohol should presumably know about those laws. They are very unambiguous and they are enforced when someone leaves a bar and kills someone, though it’s usually w a car. The police are very good at tracking a drunk’s last steps, it usually takes them a matter of hours.

This story doesn’t surprise me at all, happens all the time.

[Tidybuoy]

I suspect this case will either be dropped or a jury will side with her. Although she failed to stop the drunk, she did make an attempt.

[Gretch]

misdemeanor........ arrest for show points to keep the plebs in line..........

[Tobra]

I remember when they put those laws in place. Just looking for someone with deep pockets

[asphaltgambler]

Ex girlfriend some years ago who was a bartender said that MADD sponsored laws making the bar, restaurant, server wholly responsible if they continued to serve a customer who was drunk and then that person caused an accident.

[dad911]

5 Drinks in 4 hours? He left and came back? He drank alot more somewhere else.

If he only weighed 90 pounds, that would be 7 drinks. https://www.csbsju.edu/chp/health-promotion/alcohol-guide/understanding-blood-alcohol-content-(bac)

And you metabolize about 1 drink per hour.

[Jeff Higgins]

Hmmm... she "did everything she could to stop him", short of, well, not serving him.

That said, I agree that this is pure theater on the part of the prosecutor and police. It's going to be pretty hard to argue that over serving this guy is what led to the deaths of innocents. His murderous spree was an intentional act, as opposed to some drunk driver killing someone in a traffic "accident". The intent of the law is to prevent the latter.

I don't see a jury convicting her. I wouldn't. Even if she technically broke the law. Isn't this what "jury nullification" is for? Disclaimer - I'm no lawyer. But my sister is...

[Gogar]

What if I do a bar crawl and then commit the same crime? Which bartender is responsible?

ridiculous.

[A930Rocket]

They had that law in place way back in '79 when I worked at Friday's.

Dram shop law IIRC.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by speeder

Anyone working in the hospitality industry who serves alcohol should presumably know about those laws. They are very unambiguous and they are enforced when someone leaves a bar and kills someone, though it’s usually w a car. The police are very good at tracking a drunk’s last steps, it usually takes them a matter of hours.

This story doesn’t surprise me at all, happens all the time.

She would have been "TABC certified" to work as a bartender in TX, so yeah, she knew. The fact that he had a knife and a gun while drunk (even in TX) tells me that she didn't do enough. If someone was drunk and brandishing a big knife and gun and I was in the bar, I'd tell management really quickly, and I'd expect management to get the police to come get the guy.

People go into bars and get "drunk". I'd bet that >95% of people that leave a bar are >.08. The number that are silly, stumbling drunk are probably 10-20%. It's not good, but it is what it is. Still, there's a difference between someone that's drunk and someone that's stumbling drunk AND talking about putting someone in their place AND brandishing multiple weapons.

I think the article that I saw said that the bartender were good friends with the couple. I don't think she needs to be prosecuted or sued (I have seen that she's being sued by the victims' families. I suspect she already feels like hell.

[berettafan]

so by extension the state, county and liquor co's also are culpable. I mean they advertised to the guy then made it easy for him to obtain the alcohol. happily collected the sales tax on it.

the drinker should rot but bartender is just an agent of the liquor co and state.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

Ex girlfriend some years ago who was a bartender said that MADD sponsored laws making the bar, restaurant, server wholly responsible if they continued to serve a customer who was drunk and then that person caused an accident.

I don't understand the logic.
How is the bartender supposed to know if a customer is going to drive afterwards, or get a cab, or ride a camel?
Psychic?

Phones are the biggest cause of traffic deaths and yet they still don't turn off at 25+mph.
In comparison that is an easy fix.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by Gogar

What if I do a bar crawl and then commit the same crime? Which bartender is responsible?

ridiculous.

the one who should have noted your inebriated state and served you anyway

that's the law, like it or not

[speeder]

Originally Posted by A930Rocket

They had that law in place way back in '79 when I worked at Friday's.

Dram shop law IIRC.

Yep, pretty basic for anyone in the bar business. Been around forever. I don't know why so many people here are confused by it. You can't serve someone who is already wasted, doesn't matter if you know whether they are going to drive, etc...

It's a simple law. Obviously, it's broken all the time but when someone does leave a bar and kill someone w their car, the victim's relatives can sue the piss out of the bar if a case can be made. I was part owner of a bar in a very heavy drinking part of the world until 2017. It's a real issue.

[speeder]

Originally Posted by RWebb

the one who should have noted your inebriated state and served you anyway

that's the law, like it or not

Yep again. Everyone, (or nearly everyone), is doing a "bar crawl" in places like Hollywood, NE Minneapolis, NYC or anywhere else there are a lot of clubs and bars. I used to have the enviable position of door man @ 3 Clubs in Hollywood and a couple other places my buddies owned, (3 Clubs comes up in every L.A. bar movie ever made for 30 years, the TV show, "The Shield", etc.). I would have to inform drunken guys on a "crawl" that they could not come in because they appeared to already be intoxicated. They were usually not happy but tough schit...we've got a liquor license to hold onto.

[asphaltgambler]

^^^^^ Because as the establishment serving alcohol, they know that continuing to serve someone who is drunk, or almost drunk is against the law. ^^^^^^^ Then the bar / servers are more concerned with the money than the individual.

Also, if you host a party at your home, and a guest is drunk - leaves and causes an accident, you the host could be liable if it could be proven you knew they were drunk but allowed them or served them additional alcohol.

[GH85Carrera]

How many other countries have the laws about not serving a drunk person? I am just curious.

I have know some total drunks, and alcoholics. They go on a bender and drink until the pass out, and wake up drunk, and keep drinking for days. Some could pass for sober if they were not just totally smashed.

I just wonder where does the liability really end. If the bartender is guilty, and the bar is guilty, why not the distributor, wholesaler, state, federal governments that license it, and the manufacturer. They all encourage more consumption so they increase profit.

[flatbutt]

If she is tried and exonerated, isn't she still open to civil proceedings?

[The Synergizer]

She's getting scapegoated.

27 years old. Reasonably attractive. Just another bartender from anywhere USA...
Making her the example because some heads are gonna roll... Somewhere. And she's easy pickings.

She didn't serve the killer that many drinks. He did himself in with the booze.