Bartender fired for calling cops on drunk driver
SHELBY, Ohio - A bartender says she was fired after she called police about an intoxicated patron who left the bar and drove off.
Twyla DeVito said she was proud to work at the American Legion Post in Shelby, Ohio.
"They do a lot of good for this community, for our veterans," she said.
But her tenure tending bar came to an abrubt end last week.
She arrived at work and found a regular at the bar - an officer with the Legion Post - already drunk.
"I came into work, he was already there, pretty much hammered," DeVito said. "He ordered a beer, I gave it to him, and then I started to try to slow it down, serving him."
DeVito said when the man went to leave, she knew he wasn't in any shape to drive.
"I called the police and said we have a very drunk person leaving the bar," DeVito said. "He is going to kill someone or himself."
Police Chief Charlie Roub said one of his officers located the driver - and came to the same conclusion.
According to the police report, the driver in question - Mike Ramey - had a .167 blood-alcohol content.
"That's a little over twice the legal limit," Roub said.
Police arrested Ramey for opearting a vehicle while intoxicated.
Two days later, DeVito got a call from her boss at the Legion Post.
"He said I'm gonna have to fire you because it's bad for business to have a bartender that will call the cops," she said.
The Commander of the Legion Post wouldn't answer questions on camera but said that while DeVito probably did the right thing morally, she didn't do the right thing for the business.
"If every patron who comes in here has to worry about the cops waiting for them when they leave, the place would be empty," Mic Hubbard said in a statement.
DeVito said she did what she felt she had to do. She is glad her job was the only thing lost that night.
"I stand by what I did," she said. "And I would do it again."
Maybe before blaming the servers people should maybe read the American Legion by-laws that spell out the conduct of it's members and officers? Â Â
Maybe bartender # one should have cut him off before he got to over two times the limit?
Since he was a Legion Post Officer, maybe he himself made some threats to the bar tender to have them fired if they didn't keep serving him?Â
I think there is more to this story then the Legion Post is telling us.
Has not anyone actually read the part where it said "an officer with the Legion Post - already drunk"? That means he was already over-served by some other bar tender, and it also means he was an elected official in the American Legion Post. You would kind of think he would need to conduct himself in a manor befitting his office?
I'm sure "ChipClip would be changing his tune if he was hit by this, or some other drunk under similar circumstances.
His getting arrested could be the best thing to happen to him as he could have killed someone. That would definetely be bad for the Legion Post business as they'd most likely get the s!@# sued out of them.  Â
Well now she can go get a job with her beloved police state and get to violate peoples rights every day.
And you probably can't collect Unemployment because you got fired... hehe....
@Postone ---that's a myth, most anyone can collect unemployment after being fired for almost any reason. I used to think that too.
1. She may very well have tried to call him a cab. A great many drunks are certain they can still drive! This story is very sketchily reported, with the emphasis on the firing and not the barkeep's actions.
2. Better DUI than deadâ¦or someone ELSE dead.
3. If I were a young and hungry attorney in that area, I would go hunting for DUI convictions *involving that bar* where someone else was injured or killedâ¦and assemble the surviving next-of-kin into a class action lawsuit against that bar business for maintaining a business standard conducive to DUI driving and therefor responsible in part for DUI driving-related deaths & injuries. At the very least, it might make said attorney's name in attorney's profession; at best, it might result in a host/innkeeper law such as is commonplace in western states (where being visibly intoxicated is grounds for refusing service AND grounds for just such action as the barkeep took.)
@Deborah Snavely ---it is very sketchily reported, and he did blow twice the legal limit. But, I think the bars and their customers should be held to the same standards as hosts who are friends of their guests visiting their own homes. This relationship among the bar patronage is common in many countries that don't even accept tips.
Of course, it requires mutual respect, which was probably not the case in this story. I know that I only anger the fair bar maiden when I am drunk, penniless and walking home. Â
@Deborah Snavely We had that happen here.....too many people getting DUIIs and/or having bad crashes after leaving the same club. They eventually lost their liquor license and had to shut down for a while.
She probably SHOULD have cut him off sooner if he was already visibly "hammered" when she started her shift. Don't have any problem with her calling the cops though.
@peace: since when is it the barkeep's responsibility to make responsible decisions for adults who have their own choices to make?? Sure, she could have called him a cab, but what if he didn't have cab fare? She supposed to pay for the ride out of her own pocket rather than expect him to do the right thing on his own? OR, he could have called one for himself, or made arrangements for a ride home BEFORE he got too drunk to make it home on his own (this is what a lot of us do, it's called planning ahead). She did nothing wrong, in my opinion. He is old enough to drink, he's old enough to figure out how to get his butt home without killing anybody or getting anybody fired.
@Laurie Cole VanCurler ---"since when ...yadda yadda" ? Since he is intoxicated! And, it is the law that she MUST "make a responsible decisions for" him by law, to not serve him further. The bartender she relieved is also partially to blame as well for over serving him.Â
Shoulda', coulda',woulda'...if "ifs" and "buts" were candy and nuts...yadda yadda. A good bartender watches out for their guests, especially when they are vets, who just might be having a bad day. And bartenders are "tipped" for being expected to rise above a calling of duty beyond just pouring a powerful mind altering drug into a customer's glass.
And since you assume he might not have had cab fair (even at his home/destination), I assume he got angry and said something to her she did not like, so she selfishly extracted her revenge by enlisting the police. I doubt she did it for the public good.Â
She should be in trouble for over serving him. She should have called him a cab.
 I feel she did the right thing by calling the police but she should have offered to call a cab first and if he refused and drove then yeah call the police.. Have any of you ever lost a loved one because of an intoxicated driver?  If you haven't then God forbid you ever do and just maybe she saved more than one life that night so i for one thank god she did what she did and just maybe more bartender's will do the same...
"I came into work, he was already there, pretty much hammered," DeVito said. "He ordered a beer, I gave it to him, and then I started to try to slow it down, serving him." So she continued to serve someone that was obviously intoxicated hoping to keep him there until he sobered up? That logic makes no sense. I understand and agree with contacting law enforcement if a patron drives off intoxicated. But she didn't help the situation by continuing to serve him and then not trying to stop him BEFORE he left the bar or find another way home for him. If all she got was fired she is lucky. Continuing to serve a patron that is obviously intoxicated should come with a negligent charge against either the establishment or the server.
@Twistthewrist ---I could not agree more. Perhaps she did not know how drunk he was before she served him a beer. But, when she noticed how drunk he was, she should have given him fair warning, by telling him what she was intending to do, and offered to feed him food, on the house if need be, or even payed for food to be delivered there. If he still didn't look right, she could then insist on having a taxi take him home, while assuring him that his car was welcomed to be parked at the establishment overnight. The manager is to blame as much as her for not establishing a protocol or contingency plan for such inevitably drunk customers.
@peace@TwistthewristWhat angers me even more is that he is/was a regular at a veterans establishment. It's not like she didn't know this person and couldn't either talk to him or another member about securing him a ride. I wouldn't doubt she had a grudge against this member and found a way to exploit a moment. Alcoholism is a major problem in the veteran community and opposed to helping a person out dealing with their demons she threw gas on the fire and called the fire department (metaphorically speaking).