Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Deputy’s is Suing the Officer, a Las Cruces Hotel and a Bar Where Her Husb
SANTA FE - Tai Chan has been to trial twice for the murder of Jeremy Martin but the juries deadlocked both times. He faces a third trial this coming April but the new lawsuit filed last week adds another legal piece.
The new lawsuit looks at the fact that Chan shot Martin fives times in the back. Martin was trying to leave their hotel room during an argument at the hotel in Arizona where they had stopped while transporting a prisoner.
Chan has stuck with stating that Martin was the aggressor and shot his fellow deputy in self-defense. This lawsuit however focuses on their drinking.
Both men had been drinking earlier at a Las Cruses bar, Dublin’s Street Pub and Grill.
The lawsuit charges the Dublin owners and staff saying they over served the deputies, including serving Chan a mixed beverage of Red Bull and alcohol. Health authorities cautioned against combining the two because the caffeine can mask the depressant effects of alcohol. This leaves the drinkers feeling more alert and leading them to drinking more than they might.
The center for Disease Control says drinkers who mix the two beverages are more likely to suffer injuries. Britain’s National Health Service bluntly stated that there is the risk that they move into more dangerous behaviors when drinking the mixed beverage.
The lawsuit seeks monetary damages, citing the widow's emotional and financial loss, as well as those of her four children.
Before the second trial started a Las Cruces police detective that was assigned to the investigation filed a lawsuit against the city police department, claiming that her bosses had hindered the probation. And that during the trial, one of the prosecutors in the case resigned from the District Attorney's Office in Las Cruces.
Chan is currently free on bond while awaiting trial. One of Chan’s lawyers was contacted Monday, John Day, but he said he would t be representing Chan in the civil case. The lawsuit may move ahead regardless of what the next jurors decide in trial.
