A woman steps out in front of a speeding police car, gets struck and dies. Is that the fault of the establishment out of which she recently emerged?
Perhaps not directly, or not exclusively. But selling alcoholic beverages carries special responsibilities. James Theron Lloyd Jr. should not be surprised if the mayhem that broke out Friday night around his business, JR’s Night Hawk in East Spencer, leads to the loss of its permit to sell beer. Alcohol control officials and East Spencer’s leaders cannot look away as trouble brews at this night spot.
JR’s Night Hawk does not have much of a history. The business just received a permit to sell beer last month. But its predecessor in that location, The Red Light Health Club, was owned by the same family and earned a reputation as a trouble spot for the town.
In arguing for a permit to sell beer there once again, Lloyd told town board members he would be running a restaurant, not a club, and referred to Waffle House restaurants that stay open 24 hours a day. “Why give Salisbury all the business?” he asked.
That was no breakfast crowd milling around the Night Hawk’s parking lot at 3 a.m. Saturday. Though Lloyd had assured the town board that he’d have an off-duty police officer Friday and Saturday nights to provide security, it was a uniformed policeman —East Spencer Officer Vince Kotarsky, alerted to possible trouble by town officials earlier in the night —who tried to break up a fight in the parking lot. When Kotarsky resorted to pepper spray, the crowd got out of hand. More fights broke out, shots were fired and Kotarsky went down into a crouch, rattled but not shot.
That level of violence alone is grounds for reviewing the status of JR’s Night Hawk. But tragedy was to follow. As officers from surrounding towns speedily responded to Kotarsky’s call for help and the crowd dispersed, Salisbury Officer Mike Dummett’s car struck and killed 38-year-old Beverly Ann Fisher.
There’s lots of blame to go around in this tragedy. The people in the parking lot should not have gotten into fights. Some are questioning Kotarsky’s use (or aim) of the pepper spray, and his slowness to put out an “all clear” message once the first officers came to his aid. And then there’s the person who can never be questioned, the victim. Why did she step into the path of a speeding police car whose lights were flashing and siren was sounding?Witnesses may be able to provide theories, but investigators likely will never know the answer.
One thing is definite, though. This would not have happened if JR’s Night Hawk hadn’t been open, selling beer into the wee hours of the morning. Clearly an investigation is in order. Beyond just breaking promises to the town, Lloyd may also have broken some laws. The primary quest here should be to find out what if any state ABC laws may have been broken.
A separate inquiry into the fatal traffic accident is in order, as well as a review of Kotarsky’s actions at the scene. But don’t let James Theron Lloyd get away with blaming all this on others. He set the scene for this tragedy. The only question is how to make him bear responsibility for at least some part of it.
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