Family suing Twin Peaks, pool hall for serving underage son alcohol the night he was severely injured

(WCPO) - A family in northern Kentucky is suing two restaurants they said served alcohol to minors, including their underaged son.

The family claims the alcohol contributed to an incident that left their son in a coma.

“This family has been torn apart by this,” David Barber said.

Barber, who is the attorney for Sean Smith’s family, described him as a vibrant young man.

“He was known in his community. He had a lot of friends in the community,” Smith said.

Sean has now been lying in a hospital bed for more than a year.

“Sean was thrown from the back, broke multiple bones in his skull and in his spine,” Barber said. “And suffered a brain stem injury that has left him basically in a coma ever since.”

In March of 2023, Sean was sitting on the back of a car when the driver took off and he was thrown to the ground.

While Sean’s night ended at a local hospital, it started at Twin Peaks in Florence, Kentucky.

“In this case, this Twin Peaks chose to not card a table full of kids,” Barber said. “They chose to serve them shots and beers.”

The Smith family is suing Twin Peaks and KickShots Billiards for gross negligence.

Barber said Sean was 19 when he and other minors were served alcohol at the restaurants last year.

“This place, this Twin Peaks was known locally to this group of kids that Sean was with as a place where they can go and order alcohol without being carded. That’s why they went there,” Barber said.

Barber said the group then went to Kickshots, a pool hall.

“The group was served a bucket of alcoholic beverages without being ID’ed and then those were shared,” Barber said.

The Smiths want these places to be held accountable and hope it sends a message to other restaurants that knowingly serve alcohol to minors.

“It’s not hard to be safe and card people,” Barber said.

The driver involved in the incident that injured Sean entered a plea to serve three years in jail.

Barber said the odds Sean will come out of this coma are getting worse and the family will have to make some tough choices soon.

He also said mounting medical bills are approaching $3 million.

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