A bartender who served drinks to a drunk man who later shot and killed eight people at a Dallas Cowboys watching party in Texas in 2017 is now facing charges.
Lindsey Glass, 27, was arrested in April for serving Spencer Hight alcohol shortly before he left the bar to shoot his estranged wife at her home on Sept. 10, 2017, reported NBC San Diego. Under the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code, a bartender may be charged with negligence if he serves an alcoholic beverage to a “habitual drunkard or an intoxicated or insane person.”
JUST IN: Bartender who served Plano man before he killed 8 people in 2017 has been arrested. Lindsey Glass faces up to a year in jail. https://t.co/cHFVaBGD8V pic.twitter.com/V3mdu9l13V
— Meredith Yeomans (@YeomansNBC5) May 3, 2019
Glass is facing a fine of up to $500, and/or up to a year in jail. In a report last year, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) concluded that Glass had broken the code. Their reasoning: Spencer looked inebriated at the bar, yet Glass continued to serve him alcohol, according to NBC.
Well Past the Legal Alcohol Limit
A medical examiner found that Hight’s blood alcohol level at the time of the shooting was four times higher than the state’s legal limit.
Spencer Hight killed his estranged wife and six of her friends in Plano shooting rampage at football party https://t.co/IXMZ0GD5Li #breaking pic.twitter.com/ZV53NyvCHm
— Heavy.com (@HeavySan) September 11, 2017
In 2018, family members of the victims filed a lawsuit against Glass that was later dropped. According to the lawsuit, Glass had noticed Hight’s “unsteady gait” as he bumped into patio furniture while “extremely intoxicated,” reported WFAA.
Glass also allegedly texted another bartender, Timothy Brandt Banks, that Hight was “drunk and being weird,” reads the suit. Glass added that Hight displayed a gun and spun a knife on the bar.
“During this time, Banks suggested that due to Hight’s extreme intoxication, he should let Banks drive him home or call an Uber,” according to the lawsuit, reported WFAA.
“Hight told Banks he was having problems with his estranged wife and had something to do ‘tonight.’ Banks told Hight he should do them when he is sober to which Hight responded that he ‘couldn’t do the things he needs to do tonight without being this intoxicated,’” continued the report.
Debbie Lane, a victim’s mother, told WFAA that Glass’s arrest was a “waste.”
“To single out this bartender seems unfair, a waste of resources and will accomplish nothing,” she said. “How about focusing on strengthening abused people so they can escape these monsters.”
Mass Shooting
Shortly after leaving the bar, Hight burst into the home of his estranged wife, Meredith Lane Hight. Spencer then shot and killed her and the seven others in the home.
Powerful message from mother of Meredith Lane Hight, killed by her estranged husband, “Leave and [do] not look back.” #domesticviolence pic.twitter.com/NL1xEKSXUG
— Allison Harris (@AllisonFox4News) September 13, 2017
The first officer to arrive saw bodies in the home’s backyard and heard gunshots, according to WFAA. The officer confronted Spencer and fatally shot him.
Some of the victims were close friends of Spencer and were at his wedding, according to the mother of Meredith: including James Dunlop, the best man, and Rion Morgan, one of the groomsman.
The full list of victims released from the police are:
- Meredith Hight, 27
- Anthony Cross, 33
- Olivia Deffner, 24
- James Dunlop, 29
- Darryl Hawkins, 22
- Rion Morgan, 31
- Myah Bass, 28
- Caleb Edwards, 25
There was only one survivor whose name was not released.
In September, Spencer Hight, refusing to accept that his wife Meredith had left him, murdered the 27-year-old woman and 7 of her friends at a football watching party in Plano. https://t.co/oCWCVdmC88
— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) May 20, 2018
Janita Kan and Jane Werrell contributed to this article.
