Red’s Tavern was cited late last year for selling alcohol to a teenager the same night he allegedly struck and killed a pedestrian in a car crash, according to State Police.
Justin Martinez, 19, of Española, allegedly killed pedestrian Robert Duran, 33, of Española, in an Aug. 23 crash at the intersection of McCurdy Road and Fairview Lane. Martinez admitted to drinking vodka before the incident and had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.04 — half the legal limit — five hours afterward, according to Española Police.
State Police agents issued Red’s owner Jose “Red” Roybal an administrative citation Nov. 28 after Martinez and the two teens in his car told police they had bought liquor at Red’s — a restaurant, bar and liquor store — before the crash, State Police Lt. Eric Garcia said.
“Basically there’s no criminal citation, it just strikes against the owner and his liquor license,” Garcia said.
Roybal said his store never sold to Martinez, and insisted State Police has not cited him.
“An inspector brought in a thing, but I don’t know what that was about,” Roybal said. “Nobody got picked up on no citation. If we’d been cited, the server would have gone to jail and I would’ve gotten a fine, but nothing like that has happened.”
Roybal will likely have an opportunity to dispute the citation at a yet-unscheduled state Regulation and Licensing Department hearing, Department spokeswoman Teala Kail said. If found guilty at the hearing, Red’s could face fines or temporary closure, Kail said.
Española Police is still investigating the alleged underage liquor sale as a criminal matter, Lt. Christian Lopez said.
“We know they sold to him, we’re just trying to narrow down as to who exactly made the sale,” Lopez said. “We’ve talked to both bartenders who were working that night, and both of them are like, ‘It wasn’t me.’”
Lopez declined to name the two bartenders until Española Police cite one of them.
Unrelated to the citation, Roybal said he recently curtailed his restaurant hours to Thursday through Sunday only due to slow business. The bar and liquor store will continue to open nightly, Roybal said.
Martinez faces charges in state District Court of vehicular homicide, for Duran’s death; child abuse and great bodily injury by vehicle, for the injuries of the vehicle’s two minor occupants; and giving alcoholic beverages to minors (also the vehicle’s two other occupants), according to court records.
Martinez was placed Dec. 24 under house arrest and electronic monitoring after a bail-bond company paid $25,000 on his behalf, according to an online court records database. He had been held at the Rio Arriba County Jail on a $50,000 bond, and District Judge Sheri Raphaelson had agreed Dec. 17 to reduce his bond by half.