Published: July 08, 2009 12:09 am      

Lawsuit filed in wreck that killed five

MORGANTOWN — The families of five people killed in a fiery 2007 crash are suing a convicted drunken driver and two bars that served him for negligence and wrongful death.

A lawsuit filed in Monongalia County Circuit Court names Brian Stone, Automatic Slim’s Hot Spot and Novichenk’s Tailgater’s Pub 2 as defendants.

The complaint says bar employees knew or should have known Stone was already impaired when they served him the night of the crash. Police said his blood alcohol content was nearly three times the state’s legal limit.

Calls to Novichenk’s and the owner of the Hot Spot went unanswered Tuesday.

Stone was convicted in 2008 of 25 charges, including five counts of DUI causing death. He was sentenced to up to 56 years in prison.

Killed in the crash on Interstate 68 near Morgantown were: Courtney Evans, 30, of Baltimore, Md., and his 12-year-old son, Sawyer; and Donnell Perry, 52, of Clarksburg, and his daughters, Jentil, 15, and Jacquesha, 13.

Investigators said Stone struck the rear of Evans’ vehicle, forcing it across the median and into oncoming traffic — and the Perrys’ vehicle — on Interstate 68 near Cheat Lake in Morgantown. Neither Evans nor Perry could avoid the crash.

The lawsuit also claims seven people who were injured have suffered “serious, severe and permanent physical and emotional injuries.”

Stone had been charged with at least six DUIs in West Virginia and Pennsylvania, and convicted of three of them before the deadly accident.

He has repeatedly claimed he is not to blame. He says either his tire blew out or he was hit from behind.