[B]URLINGTON — Chelsi Parker, who was shot in downtown Burlington last year, is suing Nectar’s for negligence after bar staff allegedly returned the gun used in the shooting to the eventual shooter.
Police say that Rashad Nashid injured Parker, a bystander, after he fired his gun following an altercation with two men outside of the bar on Feb. 26, 2018. Nashid has been charged with a bevy of state-level charges, including aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and is also facing federal gun charges.
Burlington lawyer Ian Carleton is representing Parker and filed the civil suit against Ya Dude LLC, which owns Nectar’s, Wednesday in Chittenden County Superior Court. Carleton writes that Parker almost bled to death in front of the very courthouse where the suit was filed.
“This case is about what happens when a downtown bar treats the City of Burlington like the Wild West, confiscating and then returning a firearm to an intoxicated patron threatening to kill another patron, telling the combatants to ‘take it outside’ rather than calling the police, causing an outrageous and unacceptable threat to public safety,” the lawsuit says.
Police allege that a bouncer at the bar, Jamael Regular, had confiscated Nashid’s firearm after he had gotten into a fight with brothers Dennis and Carl Martin inside of the bar and pulled his gun on Dennis Martin. Carl Martin then confronted Nashid outside of the bar and pointed his gun at him, after which Nashid opened fire.
The lawsuit states that Nectar’s failure to call police after the bar had confiscated the firearm and the decision to give it back to the intoxicated Nashid led to Nashid shooting Parker. The bar also continued serving Nashid and the Martin brothers after the altercation inside the club, the lawsuit says.
Noel Donnellan, a co-owner of Nectar’s, responded to a request for comment with a statement Friday:
“Nectar’s denies any wrongdoing with respect to the incident and believes that the legal process will demonstrate that Nectar’s bears no responsibility for the injuries sustained by Ms. Parker that evening,” Donnellan said. “Ms. Parker was an innocent victim and it is very unfortunate that she was injured. Nectar’s is pleased that she has recovered.”
Police say Nashid fired two shots at approximately 2:11 a.m. One of these bullets struck Parker in the lung while she was in a crowd of people across the street. She spent about three weeks recovering from her injury at the University of Vermont Medical Center.
The lawsuit requests that Nectar’s and its parent company, Ya Dude LLC, pay Parker for damages for past and future medical and medication expenses, loss of income, pain and suffering, mental anguish, anxiety and loss of enjoyment of life. It also asks that the bar pay Parker’s attorney’s fees and any further relief that the court finds appropriate.
Parker, 27, suffers from permanent injuries as the result of the shooting, including decreased lung capacity and damage to her diaphragm, the lawsuit says.
“Nectar’s profoundly irresponsible actions, including but not limited to its dereliction of its fundamental responsibility to take reasonable steps to keep its patrons and the public safe, and its shameful disregard for basic common sense, caused Ms. Parker to suffer violent and permanent injuries, changing her life forever,” the lawsuit states.
The bar is also under investigation by state liquor control officials, who have set a March 13 hearing date before the Liquor and Lottery Control Board to consider the suspension or revocation of the bar’s liquor license in response to its actions the night of the shooting.
Carleton said that Parker and her mother, Cindy Parker Belisle, did not want to speak to the media about the lawsuit. He said that the bar did not use “basic common sense” to protect its patrons.
Carleton said that he thought the lawsuit had broader implications about public safety in the city, as police will be unable to their jobs if bars do not inform them when armed patrons get into altercations with each other.
“As the lawsuit says, this is not the Wild West,” he said. “It’s not OK to say, ‘Here’s your gun, settle it in the street.’ And that’s essentially what the bar said.”
This story has been updated to include a response from a Nectar’s co-owner, which was provided on Friday.
