ST. LOUIS — The parents of a 7-year-old boy who died in a vehicle crash near Wentzville have filed a wrongful-death lawsuit against the wrong-way driver and a St. Louis bar in Ballpark Village accused of overserving him liquor before the crash.
The boy, Zachary Allan, died Aug. 12 after his parents' SUV was hit at about 3:30 a.m. on westbound Interstate 70. The crash was east of David Hoekel Parkway in St. Charles County.
Zachary (Zach) Robert Allan
The Missouri Highway Patrol said Dioavian R. Cook, 24, was heading east in the westbound lanes and driving at speeds up to 100 mph before his car collided with Zachary's parents' SUV. The St. Charles County prosecutor charged Cook with DWI resulting in the death and two counts of DWI resulting in injury.
Zachary died a week before he was to start the first grade in Kansas City. He loved monster trucks and made friends easily, according to his obituary. Zachary was the son of Carri and Jared Allan.
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Zachary's parents filed the wrongful-death suit Thursday in St. Louis Circuit Court.
The suit alleges that the Shark Bar, at 601 Clark Avenue in downtown St. Louis, served Cook too much alcohol on the evening of Aug. 11 and early hours of Aug. 12 and that Cook was then intoxicated and allowed to drive away from the bar.
The suit names Cook; Beach Hospitality in Clayton, which is doing business as the Shark Bar; and BPV Market Place Investors of Kansas City.
No one from the business could be reached Monday. Cook was being held in jail. No attorneys were listed in court records Monday for the three defendants in the civil case.
The suit claims that Cook, "in his highly intoxicated state," tried to turn his car around on Interstate 70 and began driving on the wrong side of the highway, driving east in the westbound lanes.
Zachary and his parents were returning home to Kansas City from a vacation in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.
Dioavian R. Cook, in a mugshot from the St. Charles County Department of Corrections.
The vehicles collided, and Zachary was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after the crash. Zachary had been wearing a seat belt, as were his parents. The patrol's report said his mother suffered minor injuries and his father had moderate injuries. Cook was seriously hurt.
Two hours after the crash, Cook's blood-alcohol level was 0.20%, which is more than twice the legal limit, according to Trooper Kimberly House of the Missouri Highway Patrol. Cook and one of his friends told police that Cook had been drinking before the crash, House said. A preliminary hearing is set on the criminal charges later this week.
The lawsuit does not seek a specific dollar amount. In order for the case to stay at the circuit court level in Missouri, lawyers have to argue that the damages are over the jurisdictional minimum of $25,000.
"The alcohol and liquor sold or given to Defendant Cook by Defendant Shark Bar caused Defendant Cook to become visibly intoxicated and inebriated to such an extent that his impairment was shown by uncoordinated physical action and/or physical dysfunction," the suit says.
Missouri's law spells out the requirements for liability of venues that overserve customers. In part, the person filing suit must show "clear and convincing evidence" that the bar "knowingly served intoxicating liquor to a visibly intoxicated person."
The attorney for Zachary's family, Derek Sieck of Onder law firm, said the family wants a jury trial. The parents are now living in Columbia, Missouri.
The patrol's crash report said Cook was from Wichita, Kansas, but court records also give an address for him in the 11300 block of Sugar Pine Drive in north St. Louis County.
The Shark Bar at Ballpark Village. Photo by Emmanuel Jenkins
