Car hitting police officer
ID: MRC-01-0072
Format: SD
Description

WS Car hitting police officer / Knoxville, Tennessee, USA<br /><br />An attorney representing the owners of a Cumberland Avenue bar questioned the credibility of an underage woman who maintains that she was served alcohol at the club before running over a Knoxville Police Department officer.,Don Bosch said today that Vicki Johnson, an 18-year-old former stripper, was lying to keep herself out of trouble when she told police that workers at The Pub had supplied her with alcohol. Johnson was behind the wheel of a car that struck KPD Sgt. Lisa Green on Cumberland Avenue in the early morning hours of Sept. 28 while the office was trying to cross the street on foot.,"From the moment she ran over Lisa Green, she started lying," Bosch said during closing arguments today in Knox County Circuit Court. "She has every reason in the world to lie ... She knows she has to blame this on somebody else.",The city of Knoxville is attempting to have The Pub's beer license revoked because Johnson was allegedly served alcohol just before the traffic accident. Bosch represents the owners of The Pub, Chad Corcoran and Jason Myers.,Attorney Hillary Jones, who represents the city, argued that the offense was "so egregious" that it warranted yanking the pub's permit to sell beer. She also recounted the previous day's testimony from Johnson, who said that she'd met the club's owners while dancing at the Mouse's Ear West and had been invited by them to the bar.,She also said that she had never paid a cover charge or been denied alcoholic beverages at the club. On the night she hit Green, Johnson said she had smoked marijuana and taken a Xanax tablet before going to the bar, where she then consumed at least nine mixed drinks 11:30 p.m. and 2:30 a.m.,Johnson and a friend who was with her the night of the accident, 24-year-old Tabatha Connor, promised to testify truthfully in the civil proceeding as part of a plea bargain with the District Attorney's Office that would leave them with a clean record as long as they out of trouble until their probation ends.,Corcoran and Myers both took the witness stand Thursday and testified that they didn't serve any alcohol to Johnson, although Myers admitted serving Connor four drinks "at the most.",The men both said that Johnson appeared to be drunk when she came into the bar and was asked to sit at a table near the kitchen door. They said they never saw her drink any alcohol but were unable to explain how she ended up wearing an armband identical to those used by the club to separate patrons who are under 21 years of age from those who aren't.,Green has filed a $15 million lawsuit against Johnson, Connor and The Pub. She is still recovering from career-threatening neck and leg injuries.,At the conclusion of the hearing, Administrative Law Judge Bruce Guyton said he would issue an opinion on the issue later. He indicated he was curious as to whether any bar in Knoxville had lost its beer license due to a first offense even though the law allows for such a revocation.

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