The parents of a 17-year-old boy who died in an alcohol-related crash in January have sued the owners of a Sahuarita convenience store, claiming clerks sold him alcohol when they should have known he was underage and intoxicated.
According to Pima County Sheriff's Department officials, Wesley Edward Ott was driving a 2006 Chevrolet pickup truck at high speed when he lost control near McGee Ranch and White Hills roads, causing the truck to roll several times.
Ott and Anthony Gonzalez, 19, were thrown from the truck, and Ott died. Gonzalez was taken to University Medical Center in critical condition.
On Aug. 25, Tucson attorney David Dwyer filed a lawsuit on behalf of Ott's parents, Kelly and Christina Ott, against 1-Stop Market Inc. and Richard and Bernice Jensen.
The Jensens did not respond to messages left at the store.
People are also reading…
The lawsuit alleges that clerks at 1-Stop Market sold alcohol to Ott "with actual knowledge Wesley Ott was a minor, or with reason to know he was a minor, and/or failed to demand valid proof of age from him at the time of the subject sale." The lawsuit also says the clerks also should have known Ott would drink and continue to drive.
The Otts are seeking unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, claiming the defendants' actions were "negligent and/or reckless, wanton and intentional."
"Defendants' repeated and routine practice of selling and providing alcoholic beverages to minors not only constitutes an ongoing and continuous violation of statute, but was, in the time leading up to the subject sale to Wesley Ott, akin to a time bomb waiting to claim its first victim," the suit states.
