4 1/2 years after deadly DUI crash, bars pay up
SPANAWAY, Wash. - A Pierce County mother says she's won a battle against a pair of bars that allegedly served a drunk driver who killed her teenage daughter.
After years of legal fighting, she says her family has reached an out-of-court settlement that should come as a wake-up call to other places that serve booze.
It was 4 1/2 years ago at a Highway 7 intersection near Spanaway Lake that the fatal crash took place. A man who was too drunk to drive slammed into another car, killing 19-year-old Cassandra Clay.
There's rarely a moment that the victim's mother doesn't think about her, and wonder what kind of woman she'd be now.
"She never leaves my mind. She was smart, she was funny ... " says Caroline Clay.
She'll never shake how her daughter's death happened..
"The man that killed my daughter, it was his 6th DUI," says Caroline. "How was he able to get a vehicle, to be on the road?"
Clevan Derrer was convicted of driving drunk after the October 2006 crash.
Cassandra Clay's boyfriend, 20-year Shane Bender, was also killed.
Signs along Pacific Avenue in Spanaway mark their deaths - with a plea to not drink and drive.
The intoxicated driver apparently had been at a bar in Spanaway, and one in Tacoma, the night of the crash.
After years of legal wrangling, Caroline Clay says - in her mind - those two places finally admitted wrongdoing, by agreeing to an undisclosed financial settlement worked out between attorneys and insurance companies.
"I want the bars to be responsible," Caroline says. "A drunk doesn't know when he's drunk. But the people serving him will see changes. And when they see those changes, they need to cut him off."
She says better training is needed, and that owners, bartenders and wait staff should never serve people who have clearly had too much.
"Over-serving is a big issue," she says. "There is a law on the books that says you have to cut people off, and it's not happening."
Some of the settlement money will now be used to turn the family's den into a memorial that celebrates Cassandra's life and her love of dolphins.
"It's still hard to see her name up there, and not see her," says Caroline Clay. "But I know I'm doing good, I know I'm doing what she'd want me to do."
The families of the two victims will share the settlement money.
KOMO News attempted to get a comment from the two bars. Only the one in Tacoma commented - the manager there saying they still do not believe that they served the drunk driver in question all those years ago.
After years of legal fighting, she says her family has reached an out-of-court settlement that should come as a wake-up call to other places that serve booze.
It was 4 1/2 years ago at a Highway 7 intersection near Spanaway Lake that the fatal crash took place. A man who was too drunk to drive slammed into another car, killing 19-year-old Cassandra Clay.
There's rarely a moment that the victim's mother doesn't think about her, and wonder what kind of woman she'd be now.
"She never leaves my mind. She was smart, she was funny ... " says Caroline Clay.
She'll never shake how her daughter's death happened..
"The man that killed my daughter, it was his 6th DUI," says Caroline. "How was he able to get a vehicle, to be on the road?"
Clevan Derrer was convicted of driving drunk after the October 2006 crash.
Cassandra Clay's boyfriend, 20-year Shane Bender, was also killed.
Signs along Pacific Avenue in Spanaway mark their deaths - with a plea to not drink and drive.
The intoxicated driver apparently had been at a bar in Spanaway, and one in Tacoma, the night of the crash.
After years of legal wrangling, Caroline Clay says - in her mind - those two places finally admitted wrongdoing, by agreeing to an undisclosed financial settlement worked out between attorneys and insurance companies.
"I want the bars to be responsible," Caroline says. "A drunk doesn't know when he's drunk. But the people serving him will see changes. And when they see those changes, they need to cut him off."
She says better training is needed, and that owners, bartenders and wait staff should never serve people who have clearly had too much.
"Over-serving is a big issue," she says. "There is a law on the books that says you have to cut people off, and it's not happening."
Some of the settlement money will now be used to turn the family's den into a memorial that celebrates Cassandra's life and her love of dolphins.
"It's still hard to see her name up there, and not see her," says Caroline Clay. "But I know I'm doing good, I know I'm doing what she'd want me to do."
The families of the two victims will share the settlement money.
KOMO News attempted to get a comment from the two bars. Only the one in Tacoma commented - the manager there saying they still do not believe that they served the drunk driver in question all those years ago.
Learn about changes coming to commenting