Salinas mom files wrongful death lawsuit against two restaurants
The mother of a 20 year old killed in a DUI crash is suing two Salinas restaurants for wrongful death.
She and her attorney filed the civil lawsuit Monday in Monterey County.
Twenty-year old Abraham Requena died after crashing his car back in January. Salinas Police say he had more than three times the legal limit of alcohol in his system. Now his mom is going after the businesses who she says didn’t card the minor and overserved him.
“He made the bad choice but those establishments too, they also contributed to his death,” said Veronica Requena, Abraham Requena’s mother.
She says her son went out with some friends on January 29th. One of their stops was Islas Marietas in Salinas where she says he ordered two buckets of beer before he was kicked out for not showing an ID.
After, he went to another spot a few miles away.
“The second restaurant Tacos Acambaro, he was already intoxicated by the time he showed up,” said Requena’s attorney Brian Kabateck. “He was visibly intoxicated, they continued to serve him alcohol.”
He was there the rest of the night until he tried to drive home by himself and crashed. His mom found out the next day.
“I think that his death should have and could have been prevented,” Veronica Requena said.
The owner of Tacos Acambaro says he hasn’t seen the lawsuit and is waiting for the Alcohol Beverage Control to finish its investigation.
Islas Marietas hasn’t seen the lawsuit either but has a strict policy about carding anyone.
“We really enforce the laws and we try especially [to ensure] that no minors under 21 will be drinking,” said Maria Pareja, restaurant manager at Islas Marietas. “We can not sell buckets of beer and also every weekend we have four security [officers] watching the restaurant. We use bracelets to enforce the law.”
Vernonica’s attorney says it’s about holding these businesses accountable.
“She wants to hold these two restaurants responsible for what they did and hold them up to the public as an explanation of what can happen to other restaurants who serve minors,” Kabateck said.
“If they offered me all the money in the world it wouldn’t bring back what I want back,” Vernoica said.
She hopes to someday start a foundation in her son’s name.
