Bartender served 8 mixed drinks to man who soon crashed, killed Euless detective: warrant
On Nov. 27, 2021, bartender Cala Richardson served eight double vodka cocktails to Dylan Molina in less than three hours at Fuzzy’s Taco Shop in Lake Worth, according to police.
Richardson, 26, of Sansom Park, ignored signs that Molina was intoxicated and she didn’t keep him from leaving and driving away, police said a newly released video shows.
Molina later crashed his vehicle into the car of Euless police Detective Alex Cervantes, killing him and severely injuring his wife and two children, according to an arrest warrant affidavit released this week by Lake Worth police.
Richardson surrendered to authorities in Parker County earlier this month after a warrant was issued for her in the 2021 case.
She is charged with one count of sale to certain persons, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in jail including a $4,000 fine if convicted.
Molina was indicted in February 2022 and pleaded guilty in January to intoxication manslaughter and three counts of intoxication assault.. He was sentenced to 15 years on the manslaughter charge and 10 years each on assaults. The sentences will be served concurrently.
The security video from inside Fuzzy’s first shows Molina walk through a door behind the bar from an area that was supposed to be restricted to only employees. Richardson spots Molina behind the bar and gestures for him to go back to his seat.
Molina stumbles, and Richardson helps him to his feet, the surveillance video shows. He then goes back to the customer side of the bar while Richardson walks through the door behind the bar.
Seconds later, Molina leaves his drink on the bar and walks to the parking lot. Minutes later, he crashed his car into the Cervantes family’s vehicle at the intersection of Boat Club Road and Rocky Point Trail.
The video shows Richardson came back to the bar area and saw Molina was gone. She looked into the parking lot and then removed his last drink from the bar.
The warrant written by Lake Worth Detective R. Urbanek provided these details:
Molina arrived at Fuzzy’s at 10:37 a.m. on Nov. 27, 2021, and stayed there about two hours and 50 minutes.
Here’s the breakdown on the beverages he drink which were vodka/Redbull mixed drinks served in pint-sized glassware:
▪ 10:40 a.m., first drink, 16 minutes
▪ 10:56 a.m., second drink, 20 minutes
▪ 11:16 a.m., third drink, 23 minutes
▪ 11:39 a.m., fourth drink, 24 minutes
▪ 12:03 p.m., fifth drink, 29 minutes
▪ 12:32 p.m., sixth drink, 22 minutes
▪ 12:54 p.m., seventh drink, 18 minutes
▪ 1:12 p.m., eighth drink
Molina started his 2021 Jeep Wrangler at 1:30 p.m. and left the taco shop, 6010 Azle Ave. in Lake Worth.
Molina ran a red light and hit a 2013 Chevrolet Impala, killing the Euless detective and injuring his family.
He ran away from the scene, but he was caught by witnesses.
Police used a search warrant to obtain the digital video recording device and paperwork from Molina’s purchases at Fuzzy’s.
Detectives determined that Molina approached individuals at the bar with “loose, belligerent body posture,” and hugged or touched a customer who he did not appear to be acquainted with.
Richardson along with her attorney, Robert Wilson, met with Lake Worth police on Jan. 18, 2022, according to the warrant.
She recalled what drinks Molina had that day and initially said he had had six drinks, but she later admitted it was eight, according to the warrant. The bartender, however, did not know if Molina had consumed his seventh drink and she said she poured out his eighth, partially consumed drink.
Richardson told police she did not notice any indicators that Molina was intoxicated until he walked through an employees only area and that he left the restaurant shortly after that.
“He couldn’t stand up, he was behind the bar, he was in places he shouldn’t have been,” Lake Worth Police Chief J.T. Manoushagian told WFAA-TV. “The signs that he displayed should have been an indicator that he was not safe to walk away from that building. This is a stark reminder of what can happen when we ignore those signs.”
