5 bar employees arrested after 19-year-old allegedly was served 12 drinks and caused fatal car crash
Police have arrested five employees of a Houston bar where a 19-year-old allegedly was served alcohol before causing a fatal car crash.
On Tuesday, Erick Raphael Hernandez was charged with intoxication manslaughter after getting into a head-on collision Sunday night with 23-year-old Taylor Phillips, who was driving with her mother and 1-year-old son as passengers in a black SUV. Phillips died in the crash, and her relatives sustained minor injuries, according to the Houston Chronicle.
Investigators began looking into area bars where the underage Hernandez might have been served. On Tuesday, they quickly narrowed their focus to Frontera Events Venue, a nightclub on Houston Boulevard.
Four of the employees who were arrested on Wednesday in connection with serving drinks to Hernandez — Joaquin Gonzalez, 21; Jazely Marie Barrera, 21; Mildred “Milly” Garcia, 21; and Anna Evelyn Lula, 19 — were each charged with making alcoholic beverages available to a minor. The fifth, Gustavo Tejada-Garcia, 28, was charged with possession of an unauthorized beverage-retailer, according to ABC 13. The five were released on bond Thursday after spending the night in jail.
Prosecutors were able to charge the suspects after uncovering surveillance video of three of the five employees doing shots of tequila with Hernandez. The video shows Hernandez consuming a total of 12 drinks. To make matters worse, Frontera Events Venue did not even have a liquor license with the state of Texas, according to court documents. The bar was only permitted to sell beer and wine, according to ABC 13.
Frontera Events Venue has been serving liquor since August 2017, and in that time the bar has been hit with two citations from the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission. One was for serving alcohol after hours, and the other was for serving alcohol to a minor in May, according to the Chronicle. In many cases, only the server is charged — and the business is protected — when a minor is served alcohol. That’s because of Texas’ Safe Harbor Act — but the law doesn’t apply when someone is killed.
According to the Chronicle, Sean Teare, Vehicular Crimes Division chief of the Harris County District Attorney’s Office, said that “if the vehicular crimes task force finds any connection between Frontera and the crash that killed Phillips, the venue will probably be charged.”
Meanwhile, intoxication manslaughter may not be the only crime Hernandez is ultimately accused of. Depending on the outcome of the injuries sustained by the SUV’s other two passengers, prosecutors might look to press more charges, the Chronicle noted. Police also found a fake identification card in the teen’s car. “As [fake IDs] go, it’s a pretty good one,” Teare said. “Somebody’s out there making them. I don’t think Mr. Hernandez has the wherewithal to do this himself.”
Teare, who called the fatal crash “as tragic as a case can get,” gave the Chronicle a message he wants all sellers and servers of alcohol to heed. “Just be responsible,” he said. “Check IDs. If you see that someone’s obviously intoxicated, stop selling them alcohol. Do those things, and everything is going to be fine. But that small percentage of those sellers, servers and owners out there that encourage and actually do violate the law and over-serve and sell to minors, those are the ones we’re going to come after.”
He told KHOU, “Six hours on a Sunday evening and then just cutting him loose with a 5,000 pound deadly weapon. It’s unacceptable.”
Hernandez posted his $30,000 bail Tuesday morning and was arraigned on Wednesday.
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