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The widow of a man who was killed outside his place of employment by a man now charged with collision involving death has filed a lawsuit against her husband’s employers for overserving his alleged killer alcohol.

Cynthia Rodriguez and her attorneys, Alex Martinez and Ricardo A. Garcia, have filed a lawsuit against Oak Texas Bar & Grill, LLC., and 28-year-old John Anthony Saenz after he allegedly struck and killed 36-year-old Juan Nava Hernandez with his vehicle.

“It’s heartbreaking,” Martinez said when describing the scene.

At approximately 2:44 a.m. on Aug. 1, McAllen police responded to the 2000 block of South 10th Street in regard to a fatal crash and made contact with Paloma Mendez who told police that she and Saenz had been “drinking throughout the day,” according to a probable cause affidavit.

Mendez said that she, Saenz and another friend named Ashlee Harper left their location and headed to Edinburg, but due to an argument, Saenz dropped them off at Oak Texas.

However, Martinez says this isn’t the case.

“There are some inaccuracies,” Martinez said. “…there was a story that he had just gone over there to pick up his girlfriend and that is not sustained by any story, by any testimony that we have obtained.”

“He was there at Oak drinking for an extended period of time.”

In the affidavit, Mendez told police that Saenz had already been driving recklessly and continued to do so around Oak Texas Bar & Grill before she heard the crash.

According to Martinez, Nava was walking toward the dumpster to throw out some trash when he was struck and slammed against the dumpster’s cinder block enclosure when Saenz hit him.

Martinez said there are two videos that caught the fatal incident.

One is surveillance footage of the area and the other is a video circulating on social media that was recorded by someone whose identity is not known to Martinez.

“Basically, it’s (Nava’s) last breath,” Martinez said, describing the scene and video as “chaotic.”

In the video, Mendez can be heard screaming at Saenz to get out of the vehicle and telling him that he needed to go, Martinez said. She also suggested he get in Harper’s vehicle, according to the attorney.

In the background, an unidentified man can be heard saying, “Hey, watch out with your homeboy. Don’t run him over,” Martinez said.

Nava can be seen attempting to get back up but collapses, according to the attorney.

According to the affidavit, Saenz did manage to get inside Harper’s vehicle who then drove away before deciding to stop and told him to get off, which he did and fled on foot.

The affidavit goes on to say that Saenz can be seen attempting to help Nava after he had hit him with his vehicle in the surveillance footage, but that isn’t corroborated with Martinez’s description of the scene.

“We’re not saying that he was murdered … by no means but … to say he was being reckless is to put it lightly,” Martinez said. “I would say it was … disregard towards a human life.”

Martinez added that the wall Saenz pinned Nava up against is still destroyed.

Nava’s widow, Rodriguez, is seeking damages for loss of financial support, loss of companionship, mental anguish, funeral and burial expenses and exemplary damages to punish and deter such egregious conduct.

“We have two sets of different types of damages. One is the exemplary,” Martinez explained. “Exemplary means to punish them in order to send a message to the community about their wrong behavior. It’s basically to deter other people in the future or establishments from engaging in the same type of behavior.”

Witnesses ranging from bartenders, servers to other patrons have said Saenz was inside the bar for hours and being served through the afternoon and evening, according to Martinez.

Saenz was arrested the following day, charged with collision involving death and released on a $35,000 bond.

The post Edinburg bar sued for wrongful death of employee by intoxicated patron appeared first on MyRGV.com.