Apr 2, 2009 6:22 pm US/Eastern
Action Wanted After Deadly Drunk Driving Crash
WORCESTER (WBZ) ―
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Kathleen Vonbehren and her husband, Dale in court on Thursday.
WBZ
Parents of a Shrewsbury High School senior killed by a wrong-way driver want serious action taken against the Worcester bar which they say over-served the driver.
Ron Sanders covered a license hearing where police revealed the wrong-way driver, who was also killed, had a blood alcohol content three-and-a-half times the legal limit. "To us, this is unforgivable," Kathleen Vonbehren told the Worcester License Commission.
Her husband Dale at her side, Vonbehren said they lost their cherished son Michael and the community lost a volunteer. "The homeless children in Worcester lost their Tuesday evening visitor who would read and play with them."
Michael was on his way home after dropping off his girlfriend last Dec. 14 when a man driving the wrong way on I-290 east near Route 140, 26-year-old Somang Ath of Lowell, crashed into Michael's car. Both were killed. Police say the wrong-way driver had been drinking at Jillian's on Grove Street for seven to eight hours. "The b.a.c. (blood alcohol content) was point-28 which is almost four times the legal limit in Massachusetts," testified State Trooper Michael Caranfa.
An attorney representing Jillian's said he had just received the police reports yesterday and noted that Ath had a partially-consumed bottle of Jagermeister liquor in his car. "I believe there is a significant question as to whether there was any over-serving here," Michael Angelini told the commission.
But police say it takes 30 minutes for alcohol to be absorbed into someone's system and the crash happened only a half-hour after the wrong-way driver left the bar. "The bottle of alcohol would have a minute bearing," said Trooper Caranfa. "There is absolutely no way he wasn't intoxicated when he left there. He was absolutely intoxicated when he left Jillian's," added Worcester Police Lt. James Johnson.
Jillian's was also accused at the hearing of over-serving another customer, at a corporate gathering there Christmas Eve. Police say he was later arrested for drunken driving and had a blood alcohol content of point-3. "I don't know how you can serve someone to that point and not know that you did it," said Kathleen Vonbehren, whose testimony brought tears to eyes of observers at the hearing. "To think that an establishment was so irresponsible as to let someone drink for more than 7 hours and that that careless action led to the death of our son Michael, an innocent victim, is unbelievable."
The Vonbehrens say when the license commission meets again in two weeks, serious action should be taken against Jillian's and rules put in place to prevent what happened to Michael from happening again. The range of options available to the commission include suspension and revocation.
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