In court papers filed June 23 in the Galveston County 212th District Court, Cruz Oralia Vasquez blames DSW Restaurant Inc., doing business as Double Shoe Men’s Club and/or Crazy Horse & Gentlemen’s Club, for the Dec. 18, 2014 wreck which injured Rocky Rey Vasquez following a night of drinking.
The suit shows that Rocky Rey Vasquez patronized the defendant’s establishment with Joshua Garcia and Joshua Rent the night of Dec. 17, 2014, stating that Garcia “consumed copious amounts of alcohol and became overtly intoxicated.” Per the original petition, the club continued to serve Garcia alcoholic beverages despite his “obvious” intoxication.
“Crazy Horse admitted Garcia and his friends were drunk and unruly, with Garcia going shirtless at some point in the festivities,” the suit says.
“Thus, Crazy Horse kicked the three men out the establishment, forcing them to get in the 1992 Toyota 4-Runner and drive drunk. Crazy Horse deliberately removed the men from the premise despite the fact that Crazy Horse 1) contributed to the intoxication and 2) knew Garcia was unfit to drive.”
With Rocky Rey Vasquez in the front passenger seat and Rent in the back passenger seat, court documents further explain, the trio left the establishment’s parking lot in an erratic fashion “with one door to the vehicle still open.” The 4-Runner made its way south on Highway 146.
“A witness on the scene observed Garcia driving at a high rate of speed, abruptly leave the lane of travel and begin flipping before coming to a stop on the side of the northbound lanes,” the suit says.
“The 4-Runner crossed the south bound lanes of Highway 146 and entered the grassy median. It then began to roll side over side across the northbound lanes of Highway 146. While there are varying reports from both the intoxicated driver (Garcia) and passenger (Rent), it is clear that Garcia failed to operate the vehicle in a safe and reasonably prudent manner, lost control and violently crashed the vehicle.”
According to the complaint, Garcia proceeded to assault Rent after the wreck while Rocky Rey Vasquez “laid on the ground, unresponsive and missing parts of his skull.” A bystander attempted to stop the assault before law enforcement and emergency personnel arrived at the scene, the suit says.
Rocky Rey Vasquez was transported to the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston via Life Flight.
“After being air lifted to UTMB-Galveston he remained unresponsive and in critical condition due to his traumatic brain injury,” the suit says.
“He was declared permanently disabled, and his mother, Cruz Oralia Vasquez, was appointed his legal permanent guardian.”
Garcia, who purportedly admitted to driving in an intoxicated state, is also a defendant in the case, as is Juan P. Santos, who is accused of loaning the vehicle involved in the accident to the former.
Consequently, Cruz Oralia Vasquez seeks unspecified monetary damages and a jury trial.
She is represented by attorney J. Christopher Dean and T. Danielle Ross if the Dean Law Firm in Houston.
Galveston County 212th District Court Case No. 16-CV-0754