Hilton Head bridge crash survivor sues ‘Triangle’ bars, alleges driver was over-served
A survivor of the Hilton Head bridge crash that killed three people in May has amended her lawsuit to include local bars on the island, alleging that they were negligent in serving alcohol to the driver who crashed his car.
Bridgett Green, the widow of 27-year-old Jonathan Green, who was killed in the crash, filed two lawsuits on May 11 against the estate of the other driver, Tyler Carroll. Carroll also was killed in the crash.
The amended lawsuit, filed on Wednesday in Jasper County, blames the collection of bars on Hilton Head’s south end in the area known as the “Barmuda Triangle” for serving Carroll when he was already intoxicated.
The wrongful death and personal injury suits allege that Carroll, 23, of Ridgeland, was drunk and driving on the wrong side of the road on the morning of May 1 when he crashed head on into Jonathan Green’s sedan.
Carroll’s truck went off the bridge following the crash on U.S. 278 between Bluffton and Pinckney Island. The crash also killed 21-year-old Jordan Johnson, who was in the back seat of the sedan.
Bridgett Green was permanently injured in the crash, according to the lawsuit. Also in the sedan were Green’s 22-year-old sister-in-law and one other passenger. The sister-in-law, Lucian Reynolds, also filed a personal injury lawsuit against Carroll and the Triangle on Wednesday.
The lawsuit said the bars created “an environment of binge drinking during the late-night hours,” when patrons are frequently found “passed out on the premises, in the surrounding parking lots, and/or in vehicles.”
On the night of the crash, Carroll drove from Hardeeville to Captain Woody’s in Old Town Bluffton and had one drink, according to the lawsuit. From there, he stopped at Corks Wine and Co., also in Old Town, and then drove to the Triangle on Hilton Head, where he continued to drink.
While there, employees, according to the lawsuit, already knew or “should have known” that Carroll had too much to drink because he was “demonstrating signs of visible intoxication.”
“In South Carolina, you cannot give or sell alcohol to disqualified people,” Bridgett Green’s attorney, Tabor Vaux, said. “This refers to those who are under 21 and those who are intoxicated.”
A lawsuit represents only one side of a legal argument, and comments from those being sued, the business owners, were not immediately available.
This story will be updated.
