TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Man Wasn't Heavy Drinker, Girlfriend Says

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEITH MORELLI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 28, 2008

Updated: 06/28/2008 12:16 am

SEFFNER - Eric Morris had spent time in prison and was working toward a better life.

But he died this week after downing more than 20 shots of cherry-flavored vodka in a shot-for-shot drinking contest with a co-worker at a Seffner bikini bar.

His girlfriend, Amber Rust, said he wasn't a big drinker.

"Two to three beers a night," she said. "That was it."

The 26-year-old took a challenge Tuesday from a co-worker at Angels Show Bar. The challenger stopped drinking shots after the fifth round, she said. Morris continued.

"I don't know why they didn't stop him when the other guy stopped," Rust, 29 said Friday. "When he was stumbling and falling down, that's when they said, 'Let's not give him any more.'"

By then, it was too late. He passed out and vomited. He was taken to a darkened room where dancers entertain customers.

"There's no way to see if he had stopped breathing," Rust said. "He was gasping for air."

Morris was taken by ambulance to Brandon Regional Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. He turned 26 in March, Rust said.

An autopsy was performed, but the results are pending analysis of blood and tissue samples, said a spokeswoman for the coroner's office.

Hard drinking was not what Morris did, she said.

"He actually liked to go to the beach," she said. "He liked to relax. He worked all the time, and he liked to have his fun. He liked to joke around. He was trying to get his life turned around."

Morris met Rust two years ago at the club, when it was Moulin Rouge, she said. They have been friends since and started dating this year. They shared a home, and Rust said she was helping Morris get back on his feet after he served five months of a one-year sentence for burglary and theft.

Hillsborough County sheriff's deputies are investigating, sheriff's spokesman J.D. Callaway said.

"It's classified as a death investigation, and is now assigned to the homicide unit like any death that is unexplained," he said. "We are awaiting the cause of death and toxicology tests. A detective has been assigned. We'll look at the whole scenario and interview as many witnesses as we can, and go from there."

A man who answered the telephone at the bar Friday morning declined to comment.

Legal experts say Florida law offers a degree of protection to bartenders and bar owners.

Mark Wellingham, an expert from Jacksonville in cases that involve the responsibilities of bars and lounges, said bars and bartenders are legally responsible only if they serve someone underage or if they serve someone they know is an alcoholic.

In Florida, he said, "a bartender can over-serve a patron so that he is literally so drunk that he falls off the barstool, and then the bartender can walk him out the door, across the parking lot, put him in his car, slam the door shut and send them on their way ... with no culpability."

He said attempts to change the law to hold bars and bartenders responsible during the past six or seven years have fallen short because of a strong hospitality lobby in Tallahassee.

"Servers have no legal responsibility," he said, "although they certainly have moral and ethical responsibility."

Reporter Keith Morelli can be reached at (813) 259-7760 or kmorelli@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT