Family sues wrong-way driver and Toledo bar

6/6/2013

While criminal charges are pending against a wrong-way driver involved in a fatal car crash, the family of the victim filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the driver and the bar they said served him too much alcohol that night.

Juan Garcia, Sr., of Toledo, father of 26-year-old Juan Garcia, Jr., who died in the Christmas morning crash, filed the complaint in Lucas County Common Pleas Court against Adam Tunison, 41, of LaSalle, Mich., claiming Tunison was intoxicated when he drove north in the southbound lanes of I-75 and smashed head on into Mr. Garcia’s southbound vehicle.

The complaint, which is seeking $2.5 million in damages, also names the owner of the car Tunison was driving, Raymond Tunison of Erie, Mich.; Bimma-Rock Enterprises, LLC of Toledo, and the bar it owns, Chuck’s on Monroe, 4477 Monroe St.

The complaint alleges Raymond Tunison should not have allowed Adam Tunison to drive his car because he “did not have a valid driver’s license and had been cited for driving while under the influence within six months of the collision.”

Adam Tunison had been drinking at Chuck’s on Monroe before the crash, the lawsuit alleges. Employees there should have known or noticed that he was intoxicated yet they continued to sell him drinks, the suit claims.

Tunison currently is being held in the Lucas County jail in lieu of $100,000 bond on two counts of aggravated vehicular homicide stemming from the fatal crash. One of the counts alleges he was intoxicated at the time, while the other alleges he was driving recklessly.

He appeared in court for a pretrial hearing Tuesday in a wheelchair. Common Pleas Judge Frederick McDonald confirmed a trial date in the case for June 25.

-- Jennifer Feehan