TEXARKANA -- Owners of a downtown Texarkana restaurant and bar deny wrongdoing in responses filed recently to civil wrongful death lawsuits involving a drunken-driving fatality.
Hopkins Icehouse and its owners are named as defendants in two civil suits filed in September in Miller County court on behalf of the families of Tameka Pavon, 38, and Jercarlos Hawkins, 34. Both died in a September 2013 crash on State Line Avenue in Texarkana, Texas.
Police said Chad Caldwell ran a red light at North State Line Avenue and 14th Street shortly after 2 a.m. Sept. 29, 2013. Caldwell's jeep smashed into Pavon's 2004 Honda sedan, killing Pavon and Hawkins, authorities said.
Another passenger in Pavon's car, Genaro Camacho, 28, survived the wreck but suffered a severe, debilitating brain injury.
Pavon's mother, Mary Holmes, filed suit Sept. 18 in Miller County with the help of Texarkana lawyers Chad Trammell and Hawley Holman. The suit, which is nearly identical to one filed the week before by Trammell and Holman on behalf of Hawkins' family, accuses Hopkins Icehouse of over-serving Caldwell the night of the deadly collision.
Caldwell's blood-alcohol level tested as 0.301 the night of the crash, or almost four times the legal alcohol limit of 0.08. He pleaded guilty to two counts of intoxication manslaughter and a single count of intoxication assault in Texas' Bowie County last year. He is serving a 20-year prison sentence.
The suits specifically name Caldwell; Layin' Low Inc., doing business as Hopkins Ice House Club; Hopkins Icehouse Inc., doing business as Hopkins Icehouse; David Jones; George Dodson; Mike Rogers; John Does and John Doe insurance companies as defendants. Jones and Dodson are listed as owner/operators of Hopkins, while Rogers is identified as permit holder.
The Hopkins defendants filed answers to both suits Nov. 13 generally denying the allegations.
Texarkana lawyer Dennis Chambers is representing the Hopkins defendants.
Caldwell's lawyer, Clark Brewster of Benton, filed answers Oct. 19 to the wrongful death suits.
The two wrongful death suits are pending before Circuit Judge Brent Haltom. No hearings are scheduled.
State Desk on 11/24/2015