A bartender who served a Texas man on the night he killed eight people at his ex-wife's house has been arrested and faces charges in connection with the incident.
Lindsey Glass served the shooter, Spencer Hight, in September 2017 at a local bar in Plano, Texas, where he appeared to be drunk and brandished weapons, police and state officials said in a report by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
After leaving the bar, Hight stormed into the home of his former wife, who was having a viewing party of a Dallas Cowboys game. He killed her and seven others before dying in a police shootout at the scene. An autopsy of Hight showed his blood-alcohol level was more than four times the legal limit.
Last week, police arrested Glass on a misdemeanor charge of violating the state's alcoholic beverage code, which says a person can be held liable for selling “an alcoholic beverage to a habitual drunkard or an intoxicated or insane person." Glass has not been formally charged and is out on bail. She faces up to a year in prison, a fine of $500, or both.
Glass’ attorney, Scott Palmer, said the charge is ludicrous. Glass attempted to make sure Hight was OK and to prevent him from doing anything dangerous, Palmer said in a statement to NBC News
"It is shameful of the Plano Police Department to go after the person who was vital in trying to stop the horrific events of that evening," Palmer said, adding that "Lindsey stands as the only person who tried to stop Spencer Hight."
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Palmer said it was Glass who called 911, and that she was supposed to be at the party where some of her friends died. He said her arrest is "not in the interest of justice" and is "a last-ditch effort by the Plano PD to make someone pay."
Investigators say Glass should have known not to serve Hight, as she had been trained and certified by the state to identify and avoid the sale of alcohol to intoxicated customers, an affidavit obtained by NBC News said.
Texts that Glass sent that night about Hight said he was "drunk and being weird" and described him as "Psychoooooo," according to the affidavit.
Palmer said he finds the allegations against his client puzzling because detectives "commended Lindsey for her actions and praised her for the lives that she saved" in the aftermath of the shooting. The lawyer said he believes responsibility rests solely on the shooter.
The Local Public House lost its license to sell alcohol in 2018, after officials cited its negligence to report Hight's concerning behavior that night to the police, the local news station reported.
In its settlement with the bar, the state alcohol commission said it "knowingly permitted Spencer Hight to possess a knife over five and a half inches on licensed premises," which violates state law.
