Bartender Fired For Alerting Police To Drunken Patron Getting Behind Wheel

[The Straight Story]

SHELBY, Ohio - A local bartender got fired from her job for calling police and alerting them to a drunken patron who was getting behind the wheel of a vehicle.

Twyla DeVito said she was proud to work at the American Legion Post in Shelby.

“They do a look of good for this community, for our veterans,” DeVito said.

Her tenure at the bar came to an abrupt end last week.

“I came into work, he was already there, pretty much hammered,” DeVito said.

....

“I called the police and said, ‘We have a very drunk person leaving the bar. He is going to kill someone or himself,’” the former bartender said.

Shelby Police Chief Charlie Roub said that one of his officers quickly located the driver and came to the same conclusion.

http://www.10tv.com/content/stories/2013/02/22/shelby-bartender-fired-for-alerting-police-to-drunken-patron-getting-behind-wheel.html

[joeybee12]

1. Yup, no good deed goes unpunished...knr

[ChairmanAgnostic]

3. sigh.

In Illinois we have dram shop laws. The tavern is liable for damages if as a result of their service, the drunk hurts someone.

[joeybee12]

4. In CT when I was growing up they passed such a law...I know MA does also...

Apparently not Ohio, though.

[sharp_stick]

2. A legion bar

if you're anywhere near a legion bar you learn PDQ to never get too close to anyone pulling out of it's lot.

[no_hypocrisy]

5. If that driver got into an accident and injured/killed himself, the American Legion

would have been sued for damages under the Dram Shop Act.

That bartender was protecting not only that patron, but the AL from potential liability.

[msongs]

6. american legion takes the cash but cares not for the welfare of the outside community nt

[RKP5637]

11. Remember years ago asking my dad why he never went to legion meetings, 'casue they're a bunch of damn

drunks was his reply. That said, he did support the post, donations and all. They also took care of him with a funeral when he passed on. He supported them, just not all the drinking. ... in retrospect, some of the guys might well have drunk a lot to forget what they went through during active duty in WWI and WWII.

[demwing]

7. quote from her boss:

The commander of the post would not make a comment to 10TV News on camera but said that while DeVito did the right thing morally, she did not do the right thing for the business.

So , the American Legion is immoral?

[deutsey]

16. That about sums up where we are these days

What's right for business trumps all else.

[RKP5637]

8. Makes no F'en sense, as usual. n/t

[NYC_SKP]

9. I wasn't there, but....

I could say this:

Unless she took other measures first, calling the police after he left practically makes her an accessory.

(hear me out) NOT taking action can similarly make her an accessory to any carnage that might ensue from his leaving the establishment drunk.

I would love it if she'd called a cab, taken his keys, called upon his friends, or, finally, called the police in advance of his leaving.

My alcoholic step-father, George, who just passed away on Tuesday, used to take me to the VFW bar so he could drink.

Often, vets there are suffering from PTSD, have substance abuse issues, have no place else to go.

There had to be a better thing to do than to wait for him to leave and THEN call the cops on him.

[monmouth3]

10. Did she serve him any drinks? Did she try to talk him out of driving home? So many unanswered

questions...

[RKP5637]

13. Yeah, that's what I was thinking in my post #11. "Often, vets there are suffering from PTSD,

have substance abuse issues, have no place else to go."

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. As others have posted, dram shop

He hurt or killed anybody...who is liable? She is.

[gollygee]

12. Damned if you do, damned if you don't

Let him drive without interference or a call to the cops, and you face liability for yourself and your employer. Get involved and you get fired for angering a customer.

[Historic NY]

14. Dram shop laws in Ohio...

they ought to thank her...

[sinkingfeeling]

15. Ohio has a Dram Shop law, so she probably saved the Post money. She saved herself.

Dram shop laws make it possible for bar owners and alcohol servers to be held financially liable if a customer becomes obviously intoxicated on their premises and subsequently injures someone or causes property damage, typically by driving drunk.

So, if a person has several alcoholic drinks at a restaurant or bar and is visibly intoxicated, and then gets in a car and kills someone on the way home, the owner of the serving establishment can be sued for damages.

http://www.alcoholalert.com/drunk-driving-dram-shop.html

[Historic NY]

18. I'm thinking she has a court case given some of the statements made...

so in the end ingnorance is going to cost the ingnorant.

[0rganism]

17. seems like the Shelby cops might want to camp the exit to the AL parking lot for a few months

maybe the bar will still be in business after that.