By Joe Gerrety
Journal and Courier - 4/29/99

The parents of a man and woman killed in a crash caused by a drunken driver last month filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the estate of the drunken driver, the bar where he'd been drinking and the bartender who served him.

"We want to send a message that this behavior is not acceptable," said Dan Towery, whose daughter Sarah was one of three people killed in a head-on crash on County Road 350 South March 21.

One of those killed was Jeffrey A. Pedone Trout. Had he lived, Trout would be facing his fourth prosecution in Indiana for drunken driving.

"Obviously, this individual, Trout, slipped through the cracks. We want to close those cracks," Dan Towery said.

Sarah Towery, 24, of Auburn, Ill., and Earl E. "Chip" Smith III, 20, of Riverton, Ill., died the Sunday afternoon of March 21 when a pickup truck driven by Trout, 39, of 3607 Thornhill Circle E., Lafayette, swerved left of center on 350 South and crashed into the car in which Smith was driving and Towery was a passenger.

A toxicology study on Trout indicated he had a blood-alcohol content of 0.27 percent at the time of the crash. The legal limit for driving in Indiana is 0.10 percent. He also had cocaine metabolites in his blood.

Trout was driving with a suspended license after pleading guilty in February in his third operating while intoxicated case in Indiana.

A criminal investigation into the crash and events leading up to it is ongoing. Dan Towery is frustrated by the slow pace of that investigation, but he said he has confidence in police and prosecutors.

Police have determined Trout had been drinking at the Mirage night club, 3215 S. 18th St., before the crash. Indiana State Excise Police already have cited the business for serving an intoxicated subject based on their examination of a videotape provided by Mirage owner Rodger Heer.

Heer didn't return a telephone call requesting comment Wednesday.

Michael Langford is the Indianapolis attorney representing Dan Towery and his wife, Margie, of Lafayette, along with Earl E. Smith Jr. and Jodie E. Smith, the parents of Chip Smith.

Langford described the contents of the videotape as "shocking," but he declined to say how many drinks Trout was served during the 2 hours and 28 minutes he spent in the bar that afternoon.

According to the lawsuit filed Thursday in Tippecanoe Superior Court, Trout consumed "a vast amount" of alcoholic beverages and was visibly intoxicated when he "stumbled" out the door and to his pickup truck in the parking lot.

Also named as a defendant in the lawsuit is James Irwin, the bartender on duty that day.

Langford said Trout left the bar at 2:30 p.m. The crash occurred at 2:45 p.m. about 13.4 miles from the bar.

Chip Smith and Sarah Towery worked at the same Springfield, Ill., engineering firm. Smith was a drill rig operator, a volunteer firefighter and was studying to become an emergency medical technician.

Sarah Towery was a full-time office manager and a part-time student at the University of Illinois-Springfield. She had her own house, a cat named Beetle and a yearning to travel.

"In the truest sense, Chip and Sarah's death is a tragedy," Langford said. "And what makes it more of a tragedy is that it is the result of irresponsible acts. The purpose of the lawsuit is to assign responsibility to irresponsible people and businesses in the hope that it won't happen again."

In addition to the claims by the parents and estates of Smith and Towery, Dan and Margie Towery are seeking damages for negligent infliction of emotional damages.

They were in the car directly in front of the one in which Chip and Sarah were traveling. They saw the horrific crash in their rearview mirrors, returned to the scene and saw the victims' massive injuries, and watched as rescue crews cut away the wreckage to free their daughter.

"We are having a great deal of difficulty dealing with the trauma of having seen it, the anger, the loss," said Margie Towery. "We also know we're not the only ones in this situation."