An Austin bartender is accused of illegally serving a driver who police say drunkenly hit a pedestrian in South Austin last month and traveled at least a half-mile with the body before stopping at a beer garden.
The bartender, 31-year-old Rafael Medina, was arrested by Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission agents on Tuesday and charged with selling alcoholic beverages to an intoxicated person. He was booked into Travis County Jail with bail set at $2,500 but was released on bond, the TABC said Wednesday in a statement.
According to the TABC, Medina was working at Polvo’s Mexican Restaurant on Nueces Street in downtown Austin the night of Feb. 15 when he served 24-year-old Paul Joseph Garcia. The state agency said Garcia was showing signs of intoxication.
Police said Garcia was driving near Slaughter Lane and Menchaca Road when he struck Lee Martin Cagle. The 55-year-old pedestrian went through the windshield of Garcia’s vehicle and he was found in the passenger seat of the vehicle a half-mile south from where the crash happened, Garcia’s arrest affidavit says.
Garcia was charged with intoxication manslaughter and accident involving injury. He remained in the Travis County Correctional Complex on Wednesday with combined bail on the charges set at $110,000, according to online records.
TABC agents began investigating the case after Garcia told police he had consumed alcohol at multiple businesses before the crash, the agency said.
Texas law requires alcohol retailers to decline service to anyone showing signs of intoxication.
The case remains under investigation, the TABC said.
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