The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has suspended a St. Catharine’s Boston Pizza’s liquor license after a fatal 2023 car crash.
The Crown agency says the decision follows after reviewing an incident where the Boston Pizza at 333 Ontario Street continued to serve alcohol to intoxicated customers before allowing them to drive and then get into a fatal crash.
The agency says the customers were demonstrating clear signs of intoxication but were still served alcohol, violating the Liquor Licence and Control Act.
The regulatory agency also says the business failed to ensure that an employee had a valid certificate showing they successfully completed a training course to sell liquour.
The St. Catharines Boston Pizza’s liquor license has been suspended for 60 days.
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In a press release the Registrar and CEO of the AGCO said, “Bars and restaurants have a duty to serve responsibly in order to keep their communities safe and avoid preventable harm.”
It further reads that the Crown agency will “continue to enforce their rigorous standards and hold licensees responsible.”
FATAL DECEMBER CAR CRASH
Niagara regional police investigated a single-vehicle crash in St. Catharines in the early hours of Dec. 18, 2023, near Eastchester Avenue and Bunting road.
Officers reported a white Honda with three occupants had hit a tree.
Emergency crews said a man in his 20s was found in critical condition and died at the crash site. Paramedics sent a 19-year-old man to hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
The driver of the Honda, 29-year-old Cody Michael Black from St. Catharines, was arrested and taken to hospital for medical assessment soon after the crash.