Calgary police and Alberta liquor license inspectors are investigating after a suspected drunk driver caused a serious head-on collision after staff at a restaurant said they tried to convince him not to get behind the wheel of his vehicle.
Sgt. Joerg Gottschling said police responded to a call around 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, about a suspected drunk driver leaving a Boston Pizza restaurant, but were too late to prevent the vehicle from crossing a median and colliding with a Toyota.
The woman driving the Toyota had to be extricated from the vehicle. She suffered serious, but non-life-threatening injuries. The man, who was driving a Ford Escape, was taken to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Graham Wadsworth, a senior manager with the Alberta Gaming and Liquor Commission, said the agency has launched an investigation into “all of the events surrounding the service of an individual who visited that premises.”
Wadsworth said that servers are required not to serve customers alcohol “to and beyond the point of intoxication.”
“If individuals are deemed to have been served too much, (servers) are responsible to intervene, interrupt service an introduce non-alcoholic beverages or remove the individual from the premises,” he added.
Wadsworth said the “AGLC is thinking about the families involved in this event,” adding, “we’ll do what we can.”
Jordan Holm, senior vice-president of Boston Pizza International Inc., said “Boston Pizza takes the service of alcohol in our establishments very seriously for the safety of our Guests, our staff and our communities”
Holm said that, in addition to the provinically-mandated server training program Pro Serve, “Boston Pizza has developed an internal training program regarding the service of alcohol which all staff in that capacity must complete annually.”
With a report from CTV Calgary
