TABC is focusing on 2 servers

The Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission is pursuing criminal charges against a waitress and a bartender who served drinks to a motorist at two bars on the night Police Officer Stephanie Brown was killed in a DWI-related crash.

TABC Lt. Craig Smith said the agency forwarded the results of its investigations against the Flying Saucer Draft Emporium and Oak Hills Tavern to the Bexar County district attorney's office, which now is reviewing the cases.

The servers, whose identities weren't released, could face misdemeanor charges for serving alcohol to an intoxicated person. The charge carries a maximum fine of $500 and up to one year in prison.

“When you serve alcohol, it's a serious responsibility that people take upon themselves,” Smith said. “And there's serious consequences for overserving people or for serving minors.”

TABC also plans to seek the cancellation of alcohol permits for both bars. The cases have been forwarded to the agency's attorneys in Austin, who will pursue the penalties in an administrative court if they're unable to settle them out of court.

Carolyn Beck, a TABC spokeswoman in Austin, said both bars have asked for court hearings to fight the revocation of their permits.

Meanwhile, the family of Brown, a three-year SAPD veteran who left behind a 1-year-old daughter when she was killed in a head-on collision with motorist Christopher Baldaramos, has filed a lawsuit against the bars.

The suit states Baldaramos, who also was killed in the crash, joined two or three friends at the Flying Saucer on Huebner Road on March 14 for “pint night,” which the suit described as “an event where hundreds of different beers are offered at bargain prices.”

The lawsuit claims Baldaramos, on probation for an earlier charge of driving while intoxicated, spent five hours at the bar and drank 10 to 13 pints of beer. Then, around 11 p.m., he left the Flying Saucer and headed to Oak Hills Tavern on Fredericksburg Road, where he consumed “two or three” more pints, the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit also states Baldaramos' blood-alcohol level was 0.237 when he struck Brown's patrol car on Interstate 35.

Brown's death stoked concerns about the accountability of businesses that served last drinks to deadly drunken drivers. Police have announced an initiative to track bars where DWI suspects had been drinking, and Police Chief William McManus has formed a committee with members of the San Antonio Restaurant Association to increase education of wait staff about the dangers of overserving alcohol.

Attorneys for the Flying Saucer couldn't be reached late Thursday. In May, the bar imposed a new six-drink limit on patrons as a direct result of the crash. An attorney for the bar, Matt Beatty, has emphasized that Baldaramos left the Flying Saucer three hours before the crash, did not appear intoxicated and continued drinking elsewhere.

The owner of the Oak Hill Tavern has said the bar was cooperating with the TABC probe.