NJ Transit bus hit, killed intoxicated man, but who's really to blame?
FIELDSBORO — After about four hours at his favorite bar here, Daniel G. Brown II left on unsteady legs into a dark, rainy night to catch a bus home.
Brown was a regular at The Cool Cricket, a bar on Fourth Street, and was known as a fan of karaoke. Lacking a driver’s license, he always came and went by bus and that was his plan on Friday night, Jan. 15, 2021.
Brown never got home, instead dying beneath a New Jersey Transit bus on Burlington Road. The details of what allegedly happened and arguments over whom is responsible are percolating in Burlington County Superior Court.
Brown's family filed a claims last year, suing the bar, the transit agency and the bus driver.
Last month, NJ Transit sued The Cool Cricket, arguing the bar's responsible for Workers Compensation money paid to the bus driver.
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Brown family attorney Michael L. Saile Jr., who filed the first lawsuit over the incident last year, says surveillance camera video police obtained shows Brown that night leaving the bar. He is seen stumbling through the bar parking lot around 10:30 p.m., apparently on the way to his bus stop not far away.
“He drops his phone into the street, he was so drunk,” Saile says. “Falls down. Crawls out into the street and just collapses. And 2 seconds later, the bus runs him over.”
Jurors could get to see that video later this year as part of the action Saile filed in April 2022.
The suit is filed in the name of his estate; a sister, Jessica Brown of Levittown, Pa.; and his parents, Daniel G. Brown and Carolyn Johnson. Brown, a resident of Florence but originally from Pennsylvania, was 38 years old and worked for a company in Bordentown.
The defendants in the lawsuit the family has filed are Cool Cricket and New Jersey Transit, as well as veteran bus driver Jean Gravil. The pre-trial discovery period is to end this May, but the court has not set a preliminary trial date.
Saile argues the bar violated its obligation under New Jersey law not to serve a clearly intoxicated customer.
The lawsuit describes Brown’s bar tab that night: Seven Yuengling beers, one Miller Lite beer, and seven shots of Crown Royal whiskey. A blood alcohol level test on the body returned a figure of about 0.309 percent. In New Jersey, drivers can face charges if their blood alcohol level is 0.08 percent or higher.
“It looks like a pretty clear, egregious 'dram shop’ case from the amount of alcohol that was served to him,” Saile said, referring to laws that hold responsible bars that overserve customers. “And it matches his blood level.”
Saile says a lesson needs to be taught. “Things need to be fixed to make that place a safer place,” he said.
Neither Cool Cricket owner Francis Balon, a retired chiropractor, nor NJ Transit, are admitting any responsibility for the accident.
Both their official court responses suggest other defendants may be to blame, including Brown, or that no one may be at fault.
Balon declined to comment but did not object to his attorney answering questions. However, his attorney did not return a call for comment.
The attorney for NJ Transit did not return a call for comment. The transit agency itself declined comment, but a spokeswoman confirmed the retirement in 2021 of Gravil. He resides in Philadelphia.
In January, New Jersey Transit opened its own civil action against Cool Cricket. It wants reimbursement of Workman’s Compensation benefits granted to Gravil for unspecified “injuries and damages.”
The newer complaint also says the bar was negligent under New Jersey’s Licensed Alcoholic Beverage Fair Liability Act. Brown was “visibly intoxicated” and under that statute should have been denied further drinks, it claims.
Joe Smith is a N.E. Philly native transplanted to South Jersey more than 30 years ago, keeping an eye now on government in South Jersey. He is a former editor and current senior staff writer for The Daily Journal in Vineland, Courier-Post in Cherry Hill, and the Burlington County Times.
Have a tip? Reach out at jsmith@thedailyjournal.com. Help support local journalism with a subscription.
This article originally appeared on Vineland Daily Journal: NJ Transit bus kills drunk Burlington man. Who is to blame?
