Driver, Employer Sued In Alleged Drunken Driving Death
POSTED: Tuesday, November 11, 2008
UPDATED: 4:29 pm CST November 11,
2008
HOUSTON -- More than 10 months ago, a cab driver was hit and killed while stopping to help another driver involved in an accident. His family is now suing, saying the woman who ran into him was intoxicated because her employer encouraged her to drink on the job, KPRC Local 2 reported Tuesday.
Clinton Washington stopped his cab on the North Freeway to assist an injured driver on Dec. 31, 2007.
Washington was standing alongside the car, calling for help, when an alleged drunken driver hit him.
Driver Micaela Liem was later charged with intoxicated manslaughter. Police said her blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit of .08 percent.
"It hurts me," said Mattie Jean Johnson, Washington's mother.
Johnson has filed suit alleging not only Liem, but also her employer, was responsible for her son's death.
Liem had just left work at Rick’s Cabaret on the north side, where the suit alleges she and other dancers were required to drink with customers.
The suit claims Liem left the strip bar that night obviously intoxicated.
"They encouraged her to drink, they enticed her to drink, it was part of her job," attorney Hank Stout said. "And if you going to get intoxicated at work, and you're going to serve someone, then you have a responsibility to make sure that person gets home safely and doesn't hurt anybody.
Johnson is asking for unspecified damages. Rick’s management isn't talking about the lawsuit.
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