Des Moines police are seeking to revoke the license of the bar that allegedly sold alcohol to the teen driver in a fatal accident. 18-year-old Melissa Newman of West Des Moines is charged with vehicular homicide for running over five-year-old Cassidy Mahedy Sunday. Police Sergeant Bruce Elrod says Newman and her 19-year old friend had eight to ten drinks at the “Fishbowl” bar in a two-hour period. Elrod says investigators found the two women were “exposing their breasts and more specifically, showing off their nipple rings in exchange for drinks from (bar) patrons.He says the two women left the bar, despite the attempts of a bartender and two patrons to get them to give up their keys. Officials say Newman’s blood alcohol content was twice the legal limit. She is also charged with drunken driving. Elrod says the women had apparently been to the bar several times before — using fake I-Ds to get in — which is why bartenders didn’t check their I-D’s Sunday.Police say Newman lost control of her car and ran down Mahedy as the child rode her trike on the sidewalk. Elrod has little sympathy for the young woman who drove the car and her drunken companion.Elrod is frustrated Newman and the owners of the “Fishbowl” bar are trying to make excuses for the accident.The passenger in the car with Newman, 19-year old Erin Carper, was charged with public intoxication and giving officers a false age. Elrod says the Iowa Department of Alcoholic Beverages will be asked to revoke or suspend the license of the bar.
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