Martell’s fined $500k for 2013 car crash death

Martell's Tiki Bar in Point Pleasant Beach agrees to pay a $500,000 fine and undergo a 30-day liquor license suspension, in settlement of an inebriated woman's death in a car crash that seriously injured the other driver in 2013.

According to information from the office of acting New Jersey Attorney General John J. Hoffman, the suspension is targeted from September 28 to October 28 of this year. Bar owners will cover the cost of training in safe alcohol serving practices for all employees, which will be monitored by the Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC), authorities said.

Martell's pleaded no-contest to one count of serving alcohol to an intoxicated patron.

Police reports of the incident revealed that Ashley Chieco, 26, a Wood-Ridge resident at the time, had been drinking at Martells on August 16, 2013, and drove off in a sport utility vehicle that didn't belong to her.

At about 6 PM, Old Bridge police responded to a head-on crash involving Chieco and Dana Corrar, 55, of Old Bridge, on Route 18. She sustained multiple injuries.

"There can be deadly consequences when alcohol and driving are mixed, so it is vitally important that establishments that serve alcohol, do so responsibly," Hoffman said in a prepared statement. "It is unlawful in this state to serve alcohol to a person who is actually or apparently intoxicated and the repercussions of not abiding by the law have been brought to bear in this tragic case."