SAN ANTONIO — A newly filed lawsuit seeking a jury trial alleges that employees at multiple St. Mary's Strip bars overserved a customer in July before he later caused a wrong-way crash, killing an off-duty Bexar County sheriff's deputy and her friend.
The suit was filed on behalf of the father of Koree Alcoser, who was sitting in the backseat at the time of the crash. Meredith Portillo, a 20-year-old sheriff's deputy, was killed in what the suit called a "severe and devastating" collision, while a third passenger was severely hurt.
Jorge Luis Pargas Jr., 28, was also killed in that crash around 2 a.m. on July 21, when authorities say he swerved into wrong-way traffic of Interstate 37 on the south side moments before the crash. The lawsuit filed Wednesday in the 150th District Court names his estate as a defendant, along with Chad Carey, who owns Midnight Swim, Chisme, Paper Tiger and Rumble—all of which are located on the same North St. Mary's block between East Ashby and East Courtland.
The suit claims that, in the hours before the crash, Pargas and others were celebrating a birthday and "bar hopping" in the area. It alleges he drank "numerous alcoholic beverages" at the four establishments, to the point where he became "obviously intoxicated and was a clear danger to himself and others."
Officials with the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission confirmed the agency was "in the early stages" of investigating two of the bars named in the suit: Paper Tiger and Chisme. The San Antonio Police Department couldn't say whether they were also looking into the bars.
According to state law, selling or serving alcoholic drinks could inform “a statutory cause of action” if it was “apparent” a patron had drank enough to the point of endangering others. The lawsuit also accuses Pargas of negligence for deciding to drive after allegedly drinking so much.
Relatives previously told KENS 5 that Portillo and her friends were enjoying a Saturday night out before the crash, stopping for burgers and donuts downtown before starting back home for Elmendorf. They were hit just a few miles from their destination.
The lawsuit seeks at least $1 million in damages for Alcoser's family.
