Bartender unknowingly admits breaking TABC certification law in news interview; TABC reopens investigation

What’s one of the first things drilled into your head when you take a TABC certification online course? That the person who actually serves, sells, or delivers an alcoholic beverage is responsible for that sale. This does not mean your fellow employees or superiors can’t also be held liable if they contributed to breaking the law, but it means you have no legal justification for serving a minor or intoxicated person … even if a coworker or your boss tells you to.

Remember our post about a bartender named Cassie Villarreal from Pocket’s in Corpus Christi? She gave an interview to a local news station after her bar came under fire from the TABC when a customer, whose blood-alcohol-content was more than three times the legal limit upon leaving Pocket’s, was killed in a car accident. During the interview, Cassie said she knew the guest was intoxicated but instead of cutting him off, she simply brought it to the attention of management. The manager supposedly gave her an ultimatum: Either keep serving drinks or lose your job. Villarreal made the decision to keep serving.

It was this admission that has now led to the TABC reopening its investigation into what happened that night. So what do we learn from this? We learn all over again the same lesson taught in the TABC certification course: That you, the person serving, selling, or delivering the drink is responsible for the sale, regardless of what others may be telling you to do. Pointing the finger at someone else might make you feel better about your poor decisions, but it doesn’t negate your decision to break the law and have a careless disregard for the lives of others.

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