The Point Pleasant Beach restaurant that lost its liquor license for a month last year in the aftermath of a fatal motor vehicle accident says it’s taking no chances anymore, imposing a strict policy of checking and validating IDs.
Martell’s Tiki Bar, sanctioned last fall after a patron to whom it served alcohol was involved in a deadly wrong way crash, says it has both a new dress code and a new policy for ensuring that those who drink there are of age to do so. A spokesperson said that anyone who is 25 years of age or younger must produce two forms of identification, and that one of them must be a photo ID. In addition, if the photo ID is a copy or is altered in any way, or if the person checking IDs does not think that the picture matches the person holding the ID, a second photo ID must be presented.
Martell’s lost its liquor license and paid a half million dollar fine last year after the 2013 death of Ashley Chieco, of Woodridge. Witnesses say that Chieco had been drinking for several hours at Martell’s, left in an SUV and was killed when she struck another car head-on while driving the wrong way on Route 18. Her blood alcohol level at the time of the accident was more than twice the legal limit.
Under New Jersey law, bar and restaurant owners can be held liable for injuries to or caused by someone who was served alcohol when visibly intoxicated, or in such quantities as to reasonable cause inebriation.
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