14 DAY TRIAL // A bar owner in France is now on trial for manslaughter after one of his customers drank so many shots his heart gave out and he died. The person who is suing him is the deceased patron's daughter.
The defendant, identified as the owner of the Le Starter bar in the city of Clermont-Ferrand, stands accused of having encouraged the patron, a 57-year-old man named Renaud, to go on drinking even though it was clear that he had had enough.
The man drank a total of 56 shots adding up to over a liter of alcohol. He had to be carried home, and hours later, he went into cardiac arrest. He was rushed to the hospital but doctors failed to save his life.
Man's daughter blames the bar owner for his death
The unfortunate incident happened back in last year's October, NY Daily News informs. However, it was only this past Monday that the bar owner accused of having inadvertently killed 57-year-old Renaud made his first appearance in court.
The judge presiding over this case heard how, on the night he consumed enough alcohol to go into cardiac arrest, the man was encouraged to break the Le Starter bar's record of 55 shots in one night.
By the time he started thinking about trying his hand and liver at breaking this record, Renaud had already consumed 14 shots. He then proceeded to drink another 30 in just one minute. 12 shots later, he was the bar's new record holder.
Feeling quite satisfied with himself, he let his daughter and some of his friends take him home. When he started feeling ill, he was rushed to the nearest hospital. Doctors couldn't help him and he died.
The man's daughter insists that her father wanted to stop after 44 shots and that he only went on drinking because the bar owner came over and encouraged him to push 12 more and break the record.
“It is not known whether he would still be alive if he had not drunk the last 12 shots, but by making down those last shots, he was left with no chance,” the young woman's lawyer, one Antoine Portal, said in an interview concerning this case.
Bar owner argues that he cannot be held accountable
The owner of the Le Starter bar isn't denying that it was the 56 shots that killed 57-year-old Renaud. However, he argues that he cannot be held accountable for the man's demise.
It was Renaud alone who tried to set a new record and who ultimately drank himself to death, the bar owner maintains. “The customers are responsible for themselves as are their families and friends,” he said in a statement.