Corpus Christi, TX — Police said that a man in a pickup truck was injured late Sunday night (March 8, 2015) this past weekend after getting into an accident in the Sam’s Club parking lot. They also said that the man, 55-year old Donald Sibley, was charged with suspected DWI.
This happened around 10:00 p.m. on Sunday night, in the parking lot of the Sam’s Club off SPID and Everhart. According to the police report, Sibley had been driving his pickup truck in the parking lot that night when he lost control and crashed into two trees.
He was helped by passerby until the police arrived. He was taken to a hospital and treated for very minor injuries, but was later determined to be intoxicated (according to the news) and charged with DWI. More investigation was expected, however. There were no other people in his car at the time.
Map of the Accident
View from the Road
Commentary:
Since this person’s injuries were allegedly very minor, what I’m about to say may not be entirely applicable. However, the information remains accurate. Texas law says that those who drink and drive will be held responsible for their actions. But, it also says that those with licenses to sell alcohol (like bars, restaurants, stadiums, etc) will also be held responsible if they break the rules. If a bar serves alcohol unlawfully and someone becomes intoxicated and gets into an accident, then the bar might be liable for both civil damages and criminal charges.
You see, in Texas and many other states, selling alcohol is a privilege and not a right. To sell alcohol, bars must abide by the TABC’s rules, which explicitly forbid selling alcohol to anyone who is at or beyond the point of obvious intoxication. Of course, it someone goes to a bar with the express purpose of becoming intoxicated, then they obviously bear the responsibility of their decisions. But if someone is served more and more alcohol when they’ve obviously stopped being in control of themselves, then it’s the bar’s job to cut them off — the same way a car dealership will take the keys away from a test driver who has never driven a car before.
The news media likes to make a big deal of out drivers arrested for DWI and DUI — though I’m not condoning it or saying that they shouldn’t be punished for their actions, they should be. However, the news doesn’t ever mention whether a bar was involved or whether they may have over-served. If there were a gun range in town allowing children to come in and rent firearms, you can bet there’d be a news frenzy about it. But a bar giving someone too much alcohol doesn’t pop up on most people’s radar, so accidents involving drunk driving keep happening.
I don’t know whether this driver had been drinking at a bar (or even that alcohol was definitely a factor, that’s just what the news said), but I can tell you that I wish more people knew what I knew about Texas dram shop law because we’d probably be able to put a bigger dent in alcohol-related accidents.
— Grossman Law Offices
