| In the interest of speed and timeliness, this story is fed directly from the Associated Press newswire and may contain spelling or grammatical errors. |
Family of gay man fatally stabbed outside bar files lawsuit
Thursday July 17, 2003RIVERSIDE, Calif. (AP) The brother of a man who died after being stabbed outside a gay bar filed a lawsuit against the nightclub and a neighboring business, alleging both failed to protect him.
Jeffrey Owens, 40, was beaten and stabbed in June 2002, then bled to death at Riverside County Regional Medical Center in Moreno Valley where he received an overdose of an anti-clotting drug.
Police initially alleged that the attack on Owens, who was gay, was a hate crime. A judge, however, dismissed hate-crime allegations against five defendants, citing lack of evidence.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of Owens' brother, Brent Owens, names The Menagerie and owner David St. Pierre, along with a neighboring business, the former Sandy's Pub, and its then-owner Sandy Beam. It also names the five men and one woman who have been charged in connection with Owens' death.
The lawsuit was filed last month in Superior Court. It contends Sandy's Pub and The Menagerie failed to act reasonably when Owens was attacked.
Riverside County paid $257,000 to Owens' family to settle claims stemming from the drug error that coroner's officials said contributed to his death.
The lawsuit against the bars also names Dorian Lee Gutierrez, Viviano Cruz Marin, Ramon Rabago, David Leal Martinez and Miguel Ramos, all of whom have been charged with murder. Wendy Plasier, a bartender at Sandy's, also is named in the lawsuit. She was charged as an accessory after police said she gave a false alibi for Marin.
All the defendants have pleaded innocent.
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