West Des Moines: Driver charged with homicide in girl's death - Teen-aged motorist was drunk and lacked a license, police say.
KaEfEr @LilyPad
Teen-aged motorist was drunk and lacked a license, police say.
By MAGGIE O'BRIEN, LINDSEY HENRY and TOM ALEX
Register Staff Writer
08/08/2000
A West Des Moines teen-ager was kicked out of a
Merle Hay Road bar about 20 minutes before police said she ran over
and killed a 5-year-old girl, the bar's lawyer said Monday.
Her passenger, Erin Carper, said in an interview
Monday night that she doesn't remember the accident that killed
Cassidy Mahedy.
Melissa Newman, 18, of 608 Sixth St. is charged with
vehicular homicide in the death of Cassidy, who died early Monday.
Newman tested about twice the legal limit for alcohol, officials said,
and was driving without a valid license.
Newman and Carper, 19, had been drinking beer for
about an hour Sunday at the Fishbowl Bar and Grill, 3029 Merle Hay
Road, said David Repp, lawyer for the bar's owners.
"They were being rowdy and disrupting," Repp said
after speaking with five Fishbowl employees Monday afternoon. The
employees said they kicked out the women about 7 p.m.
Carper, of 635 13th St. in West Des Moines, said she
went to the bar without money; Newman had about $6. Carper drank about
six shots of liquor and several beers, thanks to the patrons who were
buying them for her, she said.
Carper said she had used a fake ID to get into the bar
in the past. However, she hadn't used it recently because the bar
staff recognized her and assumed she was 21, she said.
Carper, who has known Newman for about a year, said
she was so intoxicated that she blacked out and didn't remember
anything about the crash. The last thing she remembered, she said, was
being inside the bar. When her mother posted bond for her hours after
the incident, the two argued over the details of her arrest Sunday
night; Carper thought she and Newman had been arrested at the bar, and
said she had no idea that Newman struck a little girl with her car.
Carper said she had not spoken to Newman and does not
want to. She said she didn't remember or understand why they left the
bar, because they were supposed to meet a friend there.
"I just hope this doesn't all come back down on me,"
she said.
Repp, the lawyer, said bar employees thought sober
patrons would make sure the women got home safely.
Police said patrons had tried to talk Newman into
giving up her keys, but she drove away anyway.
A doorman asked Newman and Carper for identification
when they entered the bar shortly before 6 p.m., Repp said. The women,
who employees say had been to the Fishbowl previously, presented
out-of-state driver's licenses showing they were at least 21 years old
and they were let inside, he said.
Police said they checked the women for fake ID's after
their arrest. Police found Iowa licenses on the women but no other
identification cards; they said the women had used fake ID's on
previous visits to the bar.
Newman was jailed on vehicular-homicide and
drunken-driving charges, with bond set at $101,950.
Carper was charged with public intoxication and
providing officers with a false age. She was released after posting
bond.
Polk County Court records show Newman's license has
been suspended since March for underage drinking. Police said that
she had been stopped with alcohol in her system but that she was under
the legal limit for drunken driving.
She was assessed a year of probation and 10 hours of
community service.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving said the law that took
Newman's license was a good starting point, but it needs to be
refined.
"Families never get over this. We need some sort of
law for these kids," said Michelle Coles, victim coordinator with
MADD's Polk County Chapter. "They get slapped on the hand and they go
out again. This needs to stop."
Des Moines police have not determined the speed of the
vehicle at the time of the crash at 1420 Cummins Parkway.
Two young men who came onto the accident scene said
Newman and Carper appeared to be very drunk.
Ben Scharnberg and Richard Buffington said the women
were crying while taking a Breathalyzer test. The Fishbowl's owners -
Kris Greiner, Tim Tope and Stewart Ambrose - were not at the bar
Sunday evening, and they closed the bar indefinitely Monday. They
offered their sympathies to the Mahedy family through Repp.
Lynn Walding, administrator of the Iowa Alcoholic
Beverages Division, said the Fishbowl had no violations for serving
minors.
The bar could lose its liquor license or face up to a
$1,000 fine if officials determine Newman and Carper drank there
illegally.
City Councilman Thomas Vlassis said Monday that a
woman contacted him last week to complain about the Fishbowl.
She complained about the noise, profanity and "kids
going in there," he said.
Vlassis said residents also had complained about cars
driving fast as they turn from Merle Hay Road onto the divided Cummins
Parkway.
"You get a lot of calls saying, 'Can you do something
about the speeding, but no one made any formal request like, 'We need
more stop signs," " Vlassis said.
Vlassis asked the city to consider adding stop signs
in the area and, in the long term, consider reworking the
intersection.
---
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AgonyInBlk
<< Driver charged with homicide in girl's death >>
I had hoped, initially, that the little girl might make it, but upon hearing
the extend and severity of her injuries, it looks like it's for the best that
she did not.
Hearing that the drunk driver who killed her is being charged with homicide, is
the only heartening thing about this. Hopefully, she'll be tried and found
guilty, and serve a very lengthy prison sentence. I don't believe it says
anywhere how much prison time she is facing, does anybody know what the maximum
is?
Finally, if it *is* found that the two teens were utilizing fake IDs to gain
entry into the bar, I hope the bar owner is not held liable in any way for the
events that transpired when this criminal chose to drive while intoxicated.
The article states that:
<<<The bar could lose its liquor license or face up to a
$1,000 fine if officials determine Newman and Carper drank there
illegally.>>>
The guilty party, if fake IDs were shown, is Melissa Newman. So drunk that she
could not control her car and killed a little girl. So drunk that apparently
her license suspension back in March and the paltry 10 hours of community
service and a year's probation she was sentenced to didn't do anything to
dissuade her from driving, even after other patrons tried to convince her not
to.
Melissa Newman should go to prison, IMO for an *awfully* long time. She's 100%
responsible for murdering this little girl. Based on her past history, I don't
see any reason to think she won't continue her destructive behavior. A long
time behind bars will ensure she doesn't drink and drive for a very long time.
Best,
JM
___________________________________________
The Nightmare never ends...
AGONY IN BLACK
http://www.mediasi.com/chantingmonks
Come worship at the new house of horrors
___________________________________________
Maggie
>Finally, if it *is* found that the two teens were utilizing fake IDs to
>gain
>entry into the bar, I hope the bar owner is not held liable in any way for
>the
>events that transpired when this criminal chose to drive while intoxicated.
>
>
>The article states that:
>
><<<The bar could lose its liquor license or face up to a
>$1,000 fine if officials determine Newman and Carper drank there
>illegally.>>>
>
>The guilty party, if fake IDs were shown, is Melissa Newman. So drunk that
>she
>could not control her car and killed a little girl. So drunk that apparently
>her license suspension back in March and the paltry 10 hours of community
>service and a year's probation she was sentenced to didn't do anything to
>dissuade her from driving, even after other patrons tried to convince her
>not
>to.
***I grew up in a college town and there was a long tradition there of bar
owners ignoring the obvious fake ID's carried by friends of mine--photos were
either haphazardly pasted over the real photos or the pictures looked *nothing*
like the person presenting the ID. Although I never owned such a thing, more
than once I had a date press an expired out-of-state drivers license into my
hand with a picture and description *nothing* like mine. They always worked.
If that is what happened here, I hold the bartender/owner partially
responsible, as well.
Maggie
"A long dispute means that both parties are wrong." Voltaire
AgonyInBlk
>***I grew up in a college town and there was a long tradition there of bar
>owners ignoring the obvious fake ID's carried by friends of mine--photos were
>either haphazardly pasted over the real photos or the pictures looked
>*nothing*
>like the person presenting the ID. Although I never owned such a thing, more
>than once I had a date press an expired out-of-state drivers license into my
>hand with a picture and description *nothing* like mine. They always worked.
>
>If that is what happened here, I hold the bartender/owner partially
>responsible, as well.
Certainly a possibility. If they were bad fakes, and the barkeep simply looked
the other way, then there's liability to be shared. If the IDs would be good
enough to pass the muster, though, and would have gotten these two women served
elsewhere, blaming the bar in some way for *their* criminal behavior isn't
warranted, IMO.
Best,
JM
(Who once made up a *very* good phony work ID to go see the movie "Cannibal
Holocaust" when I was 15...And I thought *that* was risky...)