Top Star Market Could Face Civil Suit for Selling Beer to Man Who Died in Snow

The family of Thomas Lawrie, the drunk 52-year-old man who was found dead in a snowbank on Dec. 12 after buying beer from a clerk at Shakopee's Top Star Market, is now considering a civil lawsuit against the convenience store.

Lawrie's daughter Samantha is looking for compensation from Top Star's insurance company, the Shakopee Valley News is reporting.

The clerk's 15-year-old relative filmed the Dec. 11 exchange with his cell phone camera as Laurie stumbled, dropped his money and fell down on the counter before leaving with a six-pack of beer.

“If they would have done what any reasonable person would have done — contacted 911 to get him to detox facility — he would still be alive,” Mike Padden, Samantha Laurie's attorney, told the paper. "We reasonably believe they were making fun of him with the recording of the video.”

The Shakopee Valley News has more about the lawsuit:

The convenience store is owned by the clerk’s Palestinian immigrant family.

“We’re not trying to destroy these people or ruin these people,” Padden said. “It’s a claim we think is covered well within insurance coverage.”

Padden said he’s “fairly confident” the store’s insurance company will agree to settle outside of court.