Photo: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images
Tiger Woodssaid Tuesday the death of a 24-year-old bartender who drunkenly crashed his car last year after leaving the famed golfer’s Florida restaurant, where he worked, was a “very sad” and “terrible ending.”
Woods expressed condolences to the family of Nicholas Immesberger, who died on Dec. 10 after his shift at The Woods restaurant in Jupiter following a night of heavy drinking.
“We’re all very sad that Nick passed away,” Woods told reporters at the 101st PGA Championship in Farmingdale, New York,according to Reuters. “It was a terrible night, a terrible ending, and just — we feel bad for him and his entire family. It’s very sad.”
Immesberger left The Woods around 6 p.m. and headed home, but crashed his car and was pronounced dead at the scene. The state patrol said he was driving “at a high rate of speed” and rolled his car over,according toThe Palm Beach Post.
His blood alcohol level was a .256, which is more than three times the legal limit, his family’s lawsuit states. He was also not wearing a seatbelt,thePostreported.
Immesberger’s parents claim Woods and Herman knew he battled alcoholism, according to the suit, and that Woods “was directly responsible for ensuring that his employees and management … were not over-serving its employees/customers,” TMZ reported.
Nicholas Immesberger.Facebook
RELATED VIDEO: Tiger Woods ‘Thinks About His Sex Scandal Every Day,’ Says Source
Family attorney Spencer T. Kuvin said Woods was not present the day of the crash, according toUSA Today, though the lawsuit claims he and Herman drank with Immesberger several nights earlier. “Tiger is individually liable in this action because he individually participated in the serving of alcohol to Immesberger,” the suit states.
Immesberger was reportedly a local football star who had played running back at Berean Christian School and fullback at Bridgewater College in western Virginia in 2013.
“Nick was a good kid, a funny kid,” said Scott Duchene, Immesberger’s father, according toUSA Today. “He had a lot of drive and he was taken away from us. I feel he should still be here with us. I’m just very disappointed in this whole situation.”
The family’s suit seeks more than $15,000 in damages, according to thePost.
Woods’ reps did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s for comment about the suit; the name of the attorney representing him in the suit was not immediately available.
source: people.com
