FORT WORTH — A convenience store clerk was arrested Tuesday night, accused of selling malt liquor to a 17-year-old high school student Friday, a few hours before he was fatally injured and a 15-year-old passenger was killed in a wreck, a spokesman for the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission said.
The teen, Ivan Torres, was driving a pickup that swerved into oncoming lanes on Mitchell Boulevard, colliding head-on with another pickup shortly after 4 p.m.
The clerk was arrested at T Market, in the 1700 block of South Riverside Drive, Maj. Charlie Cloud of the beverage commission said. The clerk, who was not identified, was arrested on suspicion of selling alcohol to a minor, a Class A misdemeanor.
Torres, of Forest Hill, was weaving in and out of southbound lanes on Mitchell Boulevard when his Chevrolet pickup veered into the path of a northbound Escalade EXT pickup near Glen Garden Drive South, Sgt. Cynthia Blake said Tuesday.
Jeanette Lopez, 15, of Fort Worth was pronounced dead at the scene, and Torres died the next day. The second passenger, Berenice Lerma, 15, was critically injured, police have said.
No alcohol was found in the truck, Blake said. Statements from other students prompted police to call in the beverage commission, CloudÖ said.
"We are waiting for toxicology results on [Torres], but in the meantime, we’re looking into the case," Cloud said.
Agents interviewed students and tracked down where Torres might have bought alcohol, he said.
Investigators think Torres and an unidentified student may have bought 32-ounce bottles of malt liquor during their lunch break from Trimble Tech. Cloud said they likely drank some then and also upon returning to school, where they skipped an afternoon assembly.
He said he does not know how many bottles were bought or consumed.
Lopez and Lerma were not with the two until after school, and Cloud said there is no reason to believe the girls were drinking.
Lopez’s death has been ruled a homicide, according to the Tarrant County medical examiner’s website. Torres’ death was ruled an accident.
Lerma’s condition could not be learned Tuesday. Four people in the Escalade had minor injuries, police have said.
Beverage commission agents are also looking into a wrong-way wreck early Monday in which Eric Jordan, 25, and Christopher Brookins, 24, were killed when their southbound Cadillac slammed head-on into a tow truck on northbound MLK Freeway about 2:15 a.m.
Witnesses have told investigators that the men left Tru Lounge, a downtown Fort Worth club, just before the wreck. Jordan’s birthday was Monday, according to the medical examiner’s website.
Penalties for violating alcohol sales and serving laws range from fines to cancellation of liquor permits.
— Domingo Ramirez Jr. and Marty Sabota
Jennete and ivan i miss you <3
yall were my bestfreinds , i wish i was there to stop it /: , god took you away so soon .. yall will awlways be ,missed <3
i love you with all my heart . i will see you both soon <3
Posted by: melissa Estrada | February 29, 2012 at 10:53 AM
Lawyers and Prosecutors have all but eliminated the concept of Personal Responsibility. Welcome to the New America where all we know how to do is file lawsuits, put people in jail (for profit!) and point fingers at one another.
Posted by: gregg | March 06, 2012 at 12:51 PM