A car crash, and a trail of broken lives

The O’Briens, accused in a law suit of being nothing less than irresponsible parents, heard still more disturbing testimony about their daughter’s backyard barbecue party.

From the upstairs deck, Barbara O’Brien’s friend was saying she could see the drinking hadn’t stopped. She saw one boy by the dock.

(Court transcript) Brogan: He was walking with two long neck bottles of beer. 

Attorney: Did you have any conversation with Mrs. O’Brien?

Brogan: She said, “I’m going down there and take it from him.” She went down and took the beer bottles from the boy.

But was that enough, asked the Stones?

Beth Stone: There were no other consequences other than pouring out the alcohol. No parents were called. No keys were taken. The party wasn’t stopped. No one got into trouble.

(Court transcript) Attorney: Did you ever observe Mrs. O’Brien take any keys, car keys away from kids?

Brogan: I did not.

Attorney: Did you ever observe Mrs. O’Brien call any parents?

Brogan: I did not.

Tim Stone: There have to be consequences beyond taking the alcohol away. At some point after the kids continued to consume alcohol even though they supposedly knew the house rule which was no drinking allowed, it seems reasonable that additional steps would have been taken.

But from what the Stone’s learned there weren’t... even Jenny said she would have been surprised if her mother had ended the party.

Attorney: Did you expect your mom to allow the party to continue even though she was finding alcohol?

Jenny O’Brien: Yes, because it was under control.

Attorney: From your vantage point or from your mom’s vantage point?

Jenny O’Brien: From my mom’s.

Attorney: Did your mom come up to you after she was finding all this alcohol, and at any time have any discussion with you about “Enough is enough, I’m thinking about stopping the party?”

Jenny O’Brien: No sir.

And it wasn’t the first time the O’Briens had found signs of Jenny and her friends with alcohol—the most recent incident three months earlier.

Rubin: There had been two incidents with Jennifer and her friends previously sneaking alcohol unbeknownst to the O’Briens into that house. So Mr. O’Brien understanding that, and Jennifer asking for this party said “You know there’s not going to be any of that same funny business?” and she said yes. So the context of just allowing the party has to really be considered here.

And according to Jenny, despite being grounded as punishment for those past violations of “zero tolerance,” her mother let her friends stay that night at the barbecue.

Attorney: You saw other kids with alcohol that evening?

Jenny O’Brien: Yes.

Attorney: You were excited about having a party?

Jenny O’Brien: Yes.

Attorney: You wanted to have a good time?

Jenny O’Brien: Yes sir.

Attorney: You wanted your friends to have a good time?

Jenny O’Brien: Yes sir.

Attorney: Your mom wanted you to have a good time?

Jenny: Yes sir.

The Stones’ lawyer called Stephen Bromstrup to the stand to recount his drinking that night.

Stephen Bromstrup: I didn’t feel as if I was taking a risk bringing beer to the O’Briens’ house.

Attorney: Why not?

Bromstrup: Because I knew that I would not get into trouble if she caught me with it. I consider getting in trouble you know my parents finding out something wrong that I’m doing.

Stephen said after he arrived he saw Mrs. O’Brien dump out one girl’s alcohol.

Stephen Bromstrup: In a sort of lenient manner just, “Give that here.” You know, it wasn’t entirely strict. You know, it wasn’t, “Here, gimme that, I’m calling your parents.” It was just, she took it.

Stephen said he felt so comfortable he barely tried to hide his drinking.

Attorney: How long were you there at the table with this beer out in the open?

Stephen Bromstrup: Probably about 10, 15, 20 minutes.

The kids seemed to be defying the parents— hiding their drinking, according to Stephen in plain sight.

Stephen Bromstrup: I had seen the one clear bottle of hard liquor, I had seen long neck dark beer bottles, and I had seen a few kids walk around with cups, with beer in their cups.

Even as the party was ending, another boy, according to Stephen anyway, defiantly chugged a beer as Barbara O’Brien tried to grab it from his hands. 

Attorney: By allowing the party to continue didn’t she allow kids to continue to drink?

Jenny O’Brien: I don’t know. No sir, she didn’t allow people to drink.

Attorney: Did your mom ever express any concern to you that someone might get drunk at the party and do something horrible?

Jenny: No sir, she didn’t think...

No keys were confiscated, no rides home offered.

Tim Stone: That was the point of no return. Had she taken different steps at that point we believe that Sarah would be alive today.

Stephen, who says he drank a little more than three beers that night, was among the last to leave the O’Brien’s.

He got into his car with his two friends. 

Stephen Bromstrup: I proceeded to gain speed in my car, sped down the road at considerable speeds over the speed limit. My friend Danny had told me to floor it and I considered it cool, you know, for a car with a big engine to go fast.

He hit this curve in the road.

Stephen Bromstrup: I didn’t have time to stop. I sped through the intersection, and remember a loud noise and hitting another car.

The car carrying the girls was hit with such force that two of them died instantly.

Attorney: Do you have any regrets about that night?

Stephen Bromstrup: Absolutely.

That Stephen Bromstrup recklessly drove the car that killed the Stone’s daughter was not in dispute— but now they wanted a jury to say the O’Brien’s had also contributed to that fatal crash by not cracking down harder on teenage drinking at their house.

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