Alleged Drunk Driver, Tuscaloosa Bar Sued for Wreck That Killed 16-Year-Old

A Northport woman and a Tuscaloosa bar have been named in a pair of lawsuits filed in the wake of an alleged DUI wreck that left a 16-year-old dead and critically injured two other people.

As the Thread has reported, 29-year-old Rachel Marie Robinson was arrested and charged with manslaughter, two counts of felony assault and DUI after she allegedly caused a head-on collision before dawn last Friday morning which killed a juvenile identified in court documents as a 16-year-old boy.

Robinson was not harmed in the wreck.

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Robinson has been released from the Tuscaloosa County Jail on bond from the criminal charges. On the other side of the court system, though, she and Copper Top, a local bar, were named in a negligence lawsuit filed Wednesday by the mother of the juvenile who was killed and in a second suit filed by a 22-year-old passenger badly injured in the wreck.

The grieving mother is being represented by the Patterson Law Firm in Tuscaloosa, which filed an eleven-count lawsuit on her behalf. The injured passenger retained Alexander Shunnarah, whose suit had three counts to it.

The lawsuits allege that Robinson was drinking and overserved at Copper Top, a longtime local bar in Temerson Square, before ultimately driving her 2013 Jeep Wrangler in the wrong direction on the Hugh Thomas Bridge over the Black Warrior River.

The Jeep struck an oncoming 2024 Nissan Versa head-on - killing the juvenile and badly injuring the driver and another passenger.

The 22-year-old passenger said in her lawsuit that she suffered injuries including fractures in her legs, pelvis and arms, and both internal and external lacerations in the wreck.

She accuses Robinson of Negligence and Wantonness for causing the accident, and the third count of her lawsuit accused Copper Top of violating Alabama's dram shop laws by continuing to serve drinks to Robinson after she was visibly intoxicated.

The mother of the juvenile who was killed also sued both the allegedly drunk driver and the bar in a longer complaint that includes one count of wrongful death against Robinson.

For more coverage of crime and court news in West Alabama, stay connected to the Tuscaloosa Thread.