Portsmouth Gas Light gets $500 fine, 'time served' for serving driver in fatal crash

PORTSMOUTH — The Portsmouth Gas Light Co. restaurant has been fined $500 by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission for serving a "visibly intoxicated" man shortly before a fatal crash in the early morning hours of Thanksgiving 2022.

A ruling by a hearing officer was issued Friday. It also included a three-day liquor license suspension. Because the Gas Light's license was temporarily suspended for three days last year, however, the ruling credits the business with "time served."

"No additional suspension shall be ordered," commission hearing officer Stephen Judge's ruling states.

The commission made the allegation against the Gas Light a year ago and in a hearing last month made the case the city business should face aggravated penalties. The 2022 crash at the Portsmouth traffic circle took the life of 21-year-old Drew Ceppetelli, a student-athlete from Barrington, New Hampshire who attended Salve Regina University in Rhode Island.

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The driver in the crash, Tyler Troy, 23, of Northwood, is facing multiple felony charges and is awaiting a trial date. His blood alcohol concentration was .224, nearly three times the legal limit, according to Liquor Commission investigators.

Commission investigators sought the aggravated maximum penalty against the Gas Light, which would have included a liquor license suspension of 10 consecutive days and a maximum $2,500 fine.

Instead, Judge imposed the standard penalty, which could have included four points against the Gas Light's liquor license in addition to the three-day suspension and fine. Judge wrote he did not impose any points against the Gas Light because he found no "aggravating factors."

The Gas Light will decide in the next month or so whether to file an appeal, according to its attorney Jon Flagg.

“It is a matter of maintaining a perfect 34-year record,” he said in a prepared statement.

The Gas Light's co-owners, Paul and Eric Sorli, appeared before the commission in last month's hearing.

What the ruling in the Gas Light case says

The central issue in the case was whether the state Liquor Commission’s Division of Enforcement could prove “by a preponderance of the evidence” that the Market Street business served Troy when he was allegedly visibly intoxicated, the ruling notes.

“This case does not address the civil or criminal liability, if any, of any person, entity, witness or participant, and this order does not decide any matter beyond the issues of whether Troy was visibly intoxicated when served an alcoholic drink at (Portsmouth Gas Light) and, if so, what penalty should apply for such service,” Judge wrote in his ruling.

Arianna Sage, who testified she was at the Gas Light with a group of friends that included Troy, said he was slumped over at one point while ordering a drink at the bar. She stated she told Troy he should not drive home.

Judge noted Sage’s comments, along with testimony from her boyfriend, Ian Gutierrez, who also stated Troy did not appear to be sober, were not challenged at the November hearing.

“The uncontroverted evidence that Troy was served while he was leaning kind of slumped over against the bar and looking like he ‘was done’ is sufficient to constitute proof by a preponderance of the evidence that he was served when he was visibly intoxicated in the nightclub during the evening,” the hearing officer wrote in his ruling.

The Gas Light never had any liquor violations prior Friday’s ruling, according to Judge. For first-time offenses, businesses are subject to the standard penalty from the commission, he stated.

Flagg stated Friday a state liquor enforcement officer, who testified last month, was at the Gas Light that night and he did not identify Troy in the crowd of customers, let alone for being visibly intoxicated. Neither did several Gas Light bartenders with combined decades of experience, nor did the business' security staff, Flagg stated.

“The fact that the liquor enforcement officer on duty that night did not identify a single intoxicated person should simply be the end of the case,” his statement reads.

“The hearing officer relied on one witness to conclude that the Gas Light served somebody who was visibly intoxicated, (we believe that) simply does not match the evidence,” Flagg stated.

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Background on the Gas Light's case

Troy was indicted by a Rockingham County Superior Court grand jury in July on eight charges: negligent homicide while under the influence, negligent homicide, two counts of second-degree assault, two counts of aggravated driving while intoxicated and two counts of reckless conduct.

Liquor Commission investigator Brian Hebert testified last month Troy and friends visited several downtown Portsmouth bars prior to the Gas Light. Hebert cited Troy's .224 blood alcohol concentration immediately following the crash. The accident at the Portsmouth traffic circle took place less than an hour after Troy's last drink at the Gas Light, he stated.

The single-vehicle crash sent all six passengers to area hospitals, with some requiring extended stays for their injuries. Ceppetelli died at Portsmouth Regional Hospital about five hours after the crash, police said.

The Liquor Commission on Dec. 10, 2022 temporarily revoked the Gas Light’s liquor license after an investigation by the commission’s Division of Enforcement & Licensing. Three days later, it was regranted in Rockingham County Superior Court after Judge Andrew R. Schulman ordered a due process, leading to the Nov. 15, 2023 hearing.

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Flagg, refuted the allegations against the Gas Light during the hearing. “The cause of this accident was (Troy) trying to show off, not the intoxication,” Flagg testified, arguing Troy's speeding, not drinking, was the cause.

Troy’s first Gas Light drink receipt was printed at 10:13 p.m. on Nov. 23, 2022, according to investigators, and his last one came at 12:31 a.m. on Nov. 24, 2022. New Hampshire State Police reported last year that the Portsmouth crash then happened at 1:17 a.m. on Nov. 24.

Troy was not a party in the state Liquor Commission’s case against the Gas Light.

This story may be updated.

This article originally appeared on Portsmouth Herald: Portsmouth Gas Light gets fined for serving driver in fatal crash