The widow of a Euless police officer, who was killed in 2021 when a drunk driver ran a red light and crashed into his car, filed a lawsuit on Thursday that alleges several parties, including Fuzzy’s Tacos and General Motors, played a role in the officer’s death.
Detective Alejandro “Alex” Cervantes, Jr. was killed two days after Thanksgiving 2021 when Dylan Molina ran a red light in Lake Worth and struck Cervantes’ Chevrolet Impala. Cervantes’ wife, Priscilla, and their two sons were also hurt in the crash.
Last month, Molina, 27, pleaded guilty to his role in the crash and was sentenced to 15 years in state prison.
Court records show that just prior to the crash, Molina had been drinking alcohol at a Fuzzy’s Taco Shop about a half-mile from the crash scene. Molina was served 8 double shot Red Bull and vodka cocktails, and his blood alcohol level was .16 immediately after the crash, which is twice the legal limit.
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In the lawsuit she filed in Tarrant County District Court on Thursday, Priscilla Cervantes seeks at least $1 million in damages.
The lawsuit names Molina, Fuzzy’s Tacos, the bartender Cala Richardson, and General Motors as defendants.
The lawsuit claims that Richardson, who was charged earlier this month for overserving Molina, was not properly licensed by the State of Texas, and that she had a duty to cut Molina off once he became visibly intoxicated.
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As for Fuzzy’s, it had “a statutory duty to refrain from providing alcohol to an obviously intoxicated person,” according to the lawsuit.
In addition, the lawsuit takes issue with the company’s actions after the incident.
“Instead of terminating Cala Richardson and Jayline Barbosa (the manager on duty on the day in question), the Fuzzy’s Taco Companies had Richardson and Barbosa obtain a TABC server’s certificate, three days later, on November 30, 2021,” the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit also alleges that General Motors is responsible for a “defective occupant restraint system” in Cervantes’ Impala, and that it did not contain a center mounted airbag.
“The subject vehicle was not reasonably crashworthy, and was not reasonably fit for unintended, but clearly foreseeable, collisions,” the lawsuit claims. “The vehicle in question was unreasonably dangerous in the event it should be involved in any collision such as occurred herein.”
Neither Fuzzy’s nor GM have made any public comments in response to the lawsuit as of Friday morning.
