The debate: are these barmen responsible for this man’s death? Should they be charged with manslaughter? Should they be charged with something else? Or is the customer responsible for what he ordered?
(8-10 shots is about 280-350 mls)
Don’t ask an Aussie (and least one from NSW) about alcohol laws. After midnight I can’t order a shot of vodka, but I can order a vodka on ice.
I can’t order a double vodka & cranberry but I can order 2 x single vodka and cranberry.
The criteria for a barperson here to judge someone as having had too much are so broad that you could apply them to someone who was just very enthusiastic.
I personally believe that if someone wants the right to drink than they should have to take a half day course (Currently, the same amount of time it takes for someone who wants to serve alcohol) in the matter and then it is their responsibility.
Then again, this opinion only comes from the fact that things are too strict for me now so I’d enjoy a little more freedom.
I posted too soon.
Upon reading all the specifics of that specific situation, pretty much everyone there is at fault.
Not exactly on point, but still relevant from a U.S. perspective: Dram Shop (wikipedia link)
Perhaps I’m a horrible person, but I really have no sympathy for Parish here. Downing ten shots at one go is such an inexcusably stupid thing to do that I consider it worthy of an honorable mention for the Darwin Awards. If this man hadn’t died this way, I suspect he’d have found some equally stupid way to off himself sooner rather than later.
On the one hand, if you decide to go down for alcohol poisoning, you’re pretty much the only retard at fault.
On the other hand, prior inebriation can certainly lead to retarded decisions, and conscientious barkeeps will refuse pouring more in the cup of someone who’s already visibly sloshed beyond all recognition. And as well they should.
Yet I don’t think it’s really fair to hold them responsible for what happens when they don’t - in a crowded bar, the barman can’t very well babysit every single customer to make sure they’re not being fucking idiots.
In this particular case however, where apparently the barman had to run Teh Stupid by the manager before pouring the shots, implying the both of them were well aware something might go very wrong then yes, they *should *be held accountable, and for only carrying him away to another room instead of calling 911. So should the guy’s friends who left him there.
Damn if I could write a law differentiating between the two cases though.
If you look through the chain of events leading to death, it wasn’t so much about the alcohol. It was that they put him in a room and forgot about him. To me that was the negligent act that caused death.
With that said, there is no question that the tool who filled a pint glass with vodka, and the large tool who okay’d it, need to face serious charges.
From what I can tell the manslaughter charge needs to be applied to who ever left him in the conference room.
In this case, I’d say yeah, given that the bartender and manager seem to have been aware of the nature of the competition and how much he had been drinking already; any reasonable person should have been able to see that he was courting death by alcohol poisoning and cut him off. I’d be more reluctant to blame them if he had, say, been going from pub to pub and ordering one beer-and-shots combo at each establishment.
Former bartender here. Responsibility for this tragedy hits several people:
The deceased is the primary one, and has already paid.
The Manager is the next one, for approving the pour. He was also aware of the location of our drinker (did he approve the sleep off location?).
The Barman comes next for, pouring. Should have gone with their original instinct to not pour the glass.
The 4 others who dumped him in a conference room also have some residual guilt.
The Manager should lose his job. I don’t know if I would necessarily convict him of something criminal, however, without somehow apportioning out some guilt to the others involved. I realize I am trying to come up with percentages like a civil trial might, and that does not apply to a criminal trial.
This story shows how stupid people can be on several levels. I’m all about personal responsibility but the bartender and manager are unbelievable dolts as well as the unfortunate young man, not to mention his friends.
I’ve been in the restaurant/bar business for almost 25 years. 99% of the time shots are stupid. They serve no purpose but to get as drunk as possible in as little time as possible. Anyone ordering shot after shot is going to get my attention very quickly and most likely be cut off. I don’t need the moronic behavior or aggravation people like this cause much less having them do something horrible to themselves or other people. On top of that, dram shop laws can cause serious liability for any business owner and their employees who over serve people.
And once he passed out from drinking moving him to another room to sleep it off? I’m speechless.
I believe that in the U.K. (no cite, my search-fu is lacking) it’s actually illegal for you to be served alcohol if you’re drunk.
I have seen casinos refuse to serve obviously intoxicated patrons. Saw one guy pass out at my three card poker table. Dealer lit the bat signal, and out of nowhere two very large dudes showed up to take the guy away. Think he had a room upstairs, so they took him up there and poured him into bed.
Update: They just said on the radio that after Parrish blacked out, it was his friends who brought him upstairs. They were supposed to bring him to his room (he must have been staying at the hotel), but he was a big guy (6’3, 16 stone) and they gave up halfway and left him in a conference room.
So, from the bar staff’s point of view, the guy had left and gone home, more or less. This changes things; had the bar staff left him passed out on the premises I’d be more inclined to blame them, but they essentially sent him home with his friends, then his friends ditched him.
So it pretty much boils down to whether giving him a ridiculously strong drink (while obviously a bad idea) is worthy of a manslaughter charge.
Overzealous prosecution, imo.
I could be wrong but I think a similar law exists in Ireland too. Public intoxication is also an offence.
Speaking from (extensive 
) experience, people are very rarely refused a drink if they have the money for it and are otherwise behaving themselves. If you prop yourself up at a bar or in a quiet corner you could conceivably drink until you fell asleep/passed out, in many establishments here. This varies by establishment, I’m not too sure what criteria bar staff use to gauge whether someone is too drunk to have another drink but it seems to be a very high bar (no pun intended).
The barmen’s actions was at least ethically questionable. The whole point of dram shop laws is to prevent situations like this.
What sort of bartender in their right mind serves 8 to 10 shots of hard liquor in a single glass to a man who had been drinking heavily for the past 3 hours? And not just the beer but at least two separate pints of Guinness spiked with hard liquor?
It doesn’t really matter that the man’s friends took him home afterwards. He never should have been served the last dose in the first place.
If I’d been drinking for 3 straight hours, I’d still have the sense to realize giving a drunk man 8 to 10 straight shots in a single serving is not a good idea.
I’m not a lawyer, so I’m not sure if a manslaughter charge is warranted, but it’s certainly irresponsible behavior. And at least negligent behavior (in the legal sense).
As an ex-bartender, I would not have:
- Served 8-10 shots in a single glass. No way, no how.
- Poured the liquor into the pint earlier. If someone wants a depth charge/boiler maker/whatever, then possibly, but that person has to order the drink, and that person has to drink it. I don’t like people sneaking drinks on other people - what I would hate the most is the guys who would order a round of shots and ask me to make theirs a shot of water or coke or something.
- Filled the glass before asking the manager. Pubs run on ridiculously thin loss margins, or did in the UK, and I wouldn’t risk pouring 10 shots of booze out that might have to be thrown away.
The bartender is stupid as hell and shouldn’t be behind a bar. I can see how there could be legal liability here. This isn’t a situation I see the unfairness in, unlike bartenders being held liable for the person they had no idea was driving getting in a car after 6 beers, or the like.
Sounds like these guys would have been cut off way before this point everywhere I worked. And its not even like the bartenders were doing this in the hope of being tipped well.
The only time I was ever told I’d had enough was when I fell off the barstool. Learnt my lesson well though, now I go for stools with back rests on them 
As to the situation in the OP. Stupid decisions all round and maybe someone should lose their jobs but I think a manslaughter charge was OTT.
He died from doing 10 shots?