Texas bartender charged with overserving man before massacre

By David Warren The Associated Press

6 years ago

Lindsey Glass (Plano Police Department via AP)

FILE – In this Sept. 12, 2017, file photo, police investigate at the scene of a shooting on West Spring Creek Parkway in Plano, Texas. Authorities have arrested a bartender who served drinks to a man who later went to his estranged wife’s home and fatally shot her and seven others as they gathered to watch the Dallas Cowboys play. Lindsey Glass was arrested last week and charged with a misdemeanor violation of "sale to certain persons." The law prohibits the sale of alcohol to a "habitual drunkard or an intoxicated or insane person." Authorities say 32-year-old Hight in September 2017 already showed signs of intoxication at the Plano bar before leaving for the home of Meredith Hight and opening fire. (Vernon Bryant/The Dallas Morning News via AP, File)

This photo provided by the Plano Police Department shows 27-year-old Lindsey Glass. On April 30, 2019, authorities in suburban Dallas arrested the bartender who served drinks to a man who later went to his estranged wife’s home and fatally shot her and seven others as they gathered to watch the Dallas Cowboys play. The law prohibits the sale of alcohol to a “habitual drunkard or an intoxicated or insane person.” (Plano Police Department via AP)

DALLAS — A suburban Dallas bartender is accused of continuing to serve drinks to a drunken man who later went to his estranged wife’s home and killed her and seven other people while they were watching a Dallas Cowboys game on TV two years ago.

Lindsey Glass, 27, was arrested last week and charged with a misdemeanor violation of the state’s “sale to certain persons” law, which bars the sale of alcohol to a “habitual drunkard or an intoxicated or insane person.”

According to Plano police, Glass continued to serve alcohol to Spencer Hight that September 2017 day even after it was clear he had had too much to drink. A medical examiner later determined that Hight’s blood alcohol level was four times the state’s legal limit.

Hight, 32, left the bar inebriated and headed to the home of his estranged wife, Meredith Hight, where he opened fire, killing her and seven of her friends, authorities say. A responding officer shot and killed him.

Glass knew Spencer Hight and had earlier texted another bartender as Hight sat at the bar, investigators say.

“Spencer has a big knife on the bar and is spinning it and just asked for his tab and said I have to go do some dirty work … Psychoooooooo,” according to the text, which was included in a report last year by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.

At one point, Hight also displayed a handgun and a bar worker escorted him to his car to place the weapons inside before he could return to the bar, police search warrants revealed.

Glass’ attorney, Scott Palmer, said Tuesday that her arrest “is not in the interest of justice” and criticized Plano police for going after a person who tried to stop violence from occurring. He said Glass tried to persuade Hight not to drive that night and expressed concerns about his behavior to a supervisor.

After Hight left the bar, Glass and another employee drove to Meredith Hight’s nearby home out of concern that her estranged husband was headed there, Palmer said. When she spotted Spencer Hight’s car outside of the home, Glass called 911. The call was made before the shooting began, he said.

Detectives early on had commended Glass for her actions, he said.

Palmer added in a statement that, “Not only did she know Spencer but she was friends with Meredith and was supposed to be at the party that evening.”

A lawsuit filed by the families of the victims against the bar and Glass has been dismissed. The bar relinquished its liquor license in a settlement with TABC.

At the time of the attack, Meredith Hight was in the process of divorcing her husband, who family and friends have said was unemployed, drinking too much and becoming increasingly isolated from others.