Waitress accused of serving alcohol to underage friends goes on trial (1 dead 1 serious injury))

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/article/20140203/NEWS/140209592/1707#waitress-accused-of-serving-alcohol-to-underage-friends-goes-on-trial

Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a waitress accused of serving two underage friends before the friends got into a fatal crash.

Amanda Heiman, then 20, is accused of serving alcohol to Jacob Dickmeyer,18, and Colby Burke, 19, at the Fire Barn bar in Waterloo in December 2012.

Dickmeyer then drove drunk and crashed a car near 208th Street and West Dodge Road, killing him and injuring Burke, his passenger.

Heiman is charged with providing alcohol to a minor resulting in death. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.

[Kelvin Mace]

1. Hmmm... I thought places serving alcohol

weren't allowed to hire anyone under 21?

[Cleita]

2. I worked in a place that served food and alcohol and hired

wait staff under 21, but they weren't allowed to serve alcohol. If their table had alcohol orders, they had to get another waiter, bartender or even bus boy or manager, over the age of twenty one, to deliver the beverage and pick up the glasses if there was beverage left in them. This was in my state though and I'm sure it varies by state.

[Blue_Tires]

3. Strange precedent...

If this waitress is legally responsible, then there are hundreds of thousands of bartenders, dance club managers and stadium vendors who should have been on trial....

[liberalhistorian]

5. Indeed,

that is what I was thinking as well. It's ridiculous. Overzealous prosecutors really need to be reined in.

[Blue_Tires]

7. Not only that,

but you could theoretically put *any* bar or club located near a major university on trial or out of business...Those places are packed with underage drinkers and soon-to-be-DWI drivers on any given weekend in every state....

[liberalhistorian]

9. No kidding. And that

was the case even thirty years ago when I was in college.

[NobodyHere]

8. I was under the impression

that if they did serve alcohol to minors that later caused harm they could be held responsible in some form.

[liberalhistorian]

4. This is bullshit. She

didn't hold a gun to their heads and force them to down the drinks against their will. She didn't get in the car drunk and drive it. These two were more than old enough to know that they were underage and shouldn't be drinking publicly and they certainly were more than old enough to know that they shouldn't have been driving after drinking. Anyone who doesn't know that by now has been living under a rock in the Arctic all of their lives.

I'm not saying the waitress wasn't wrong in what she did and she damn well should have known better. But she isn't the one ultimately responsible for these two idiots' deaths and injuries, THEY are. And if they hadn't gotten the drinks there, from her, they would have gotten them somewhere else.

[surrealAmerican]

6. Since she's underage, why was she allowed to serve alcohol to anybody?

What are the laws in Nebraska? In most states, that would not be legal.

[Omaha Steve]

10. It is a felony she knew they were underage

http://www.omaha.com/article/20121212/NEWS/121219923

By Todd Cooper Published Wednesday, December 12, 2012 at 1:00 am / Updated at 4:45 pm

Snip:

Hours before her friend drove drunk and died, Amanda Heiman asked her fellow Waterloo bar servers to take over the table where he and another young man sat — saying she was afraid she wouldn't be able to refuse their requests for alcohol.

“Heiman (said) she didn't want to take the table because the guys had been texting her earlier about coming in and drinking,” according to an arrest warrant for Heiman. “Heiman (said) she didn't want to say 'no.' ”

Heiman later shared the same concerns with another co-worker at the Fire Barn Bar & Grill.

Despite that reluctance, authorities allege, Heiman served alcohol to Jacob Dickmeyer, 18, and Colby Burke, 19, in the hours before the Dec. 3 crash on West Dodge Road in which Dickmeyer died and Burke was seriously injured.

Douglas County prosecutors charged Heiman on Tuesday under a new law that makes it a felony to procure alcohol for a minor who then gets involved in a crash that causes death or serious bodily injury.

Dickmeyer's blood-alcohol content was .24 percent, according to autopsy results. The legal limit for driving for anyone over 21 is .08.

FULL original story at link.

[ManiacJoe]

11. Did she check their IDs?

Were they using fake IDs?

It is sad what passes for journalism these days....

....
Much better article in post #10.