A Garden City Beach tavern and a Murrells Inlet man are named in a civil suit that alleges both are responsible for the deaths of two women in March.The suit stems from a crash in March in which Savannah Edgar, 18, and Shanna Stines, 22, were killed.
Jeremy Nordstrom of Murrells Inlet faces two counts of felony driving under the influence causing death, one count of felony driving under the influence causing great bodily injury, and one count of drug possession in connection with the incident.
Police say Nordstrom was driving under the influence on March 31, 2007, when he crashed into another car at the intersection of U.S. 17 Business and S.C. 544, killing Edgar and Stines.
The lawsuit, filed Tuesday by Columbia lawyer Richard Gergel, alleges Nordstrom had been drinking alcohol at the then Wild Wing Cafe, 2700 U.S. 17 Business in Garden City Beach, before the wreck.
The suit, filed on behalf of Edgar’s and Stines’ families, charges that Garden City Wings LLC, then doing business as Wild Wing Cafe, promoted “an environment of excessive and irresponsible alcohol consumption.”
It also alleges the tavern’s management did not train its staff to sufficiently monitor and direct its alcohol sales, including how to recognize and stop serving customers who have noticeably had too much to drink.
The suit shows that Nordstrom entered the Garden City Beach tavern sometime after 10 p.m. March 30, 2007, and opened a tab, then “rapidly ordered and consumed after arrival multiple shots of liquor as well as beer.”
He showed signs of being extremely intoxicated as the night progressed, the suit alleges, including “dancing wildly with his shoes off, dancing with staff, stumbling and falling into patrons and appearing dishevelled and confused,” according to the suit.
Gergel declined to comment Tuesday about the suit.
“I’d like my complaint to speak for itself,” he said.
The owner of the former Wild Wing Cafe, now doing business as Taterz Grill after losing its franchise in an unrelated case, said Tuesday he was not aware of the civil suit.
“Without knowing anything about it, first off, our deepest sympathies go out to these two families,” said Mac Erwin, co-owner of Garden City Wings LLC. “Second of all, we don’t promote anything like that. We train our bartenders, our managers, not to over-serve people.”
Although the civil complaint requests a jury trial, a date has not been set.
Nordstrom is expected to stand trial in the criminal case in May or June, said 15th Judicial Circuit Solicitor Greg Hembree.