The family of a teenager killed in a car crash in Tinley Park this month is suing a bar it says served alcohol to the off-duty Chicago police officer involved in the accident.
Nolan Law Group, representing the family of Ahmad Shaban, one of the two boys killed, filed a lawsuit against the officer last week in Cook County Circuit Court and on Tuesday added the restaurant as a co-defendant.
The suit states that the officer, Jason Casper, had been drinking at Fire & Ice, an Orland Hills restaurant and bar, before driving his Chevrolet Monte Carlo through a red light at Harlem Avenue and 159th Street on Feb. 12.
The accident killed Shaban, 16, and his best friend, Mohammed Shuaibi, 17, as they returned home from work. They were two of four passengers in a two-door Saturn.
Albert Durkin, an attorney representing Shaban’s family, would not say why he thought Casper had been drinking at Fire & Ice, but said he was suing the establishment under the state’s “dram shop law.”
“It all comes down to responsibility,” Durkin said. “The driver has responsibility and the person who served him has responsibility.”
The suit says Casper was driving faster than 80 m.p.h. and failed to stop at a red light or look for other vehicles.
The bar is at 8888 W. 159th St. and is open until 5 a.m. on Friday and Saturday nights.
The restaurant–also known as Georgios Bar & Grill Ltd.–referred all calls to its lawyer, Peter Soukaras, but he said he would not be handling the case. The restaurant’s insurance company likely would assign an attorney, he said.
