A Louisville Mexican restaurant is now out of business, at least temporarily, after regulators connected the dots between a margarita order and a fatal crash that took the life of a teenage girl in May. The sequence of events unfolded fast: a meal, some drinks, a car, and a collision that ended a 19-year-old’s life on a residential street in the Smoketown neighborhood. Now, Louisville Metro Alcoholic Beverage Control has stepped in with one of the most serious tools in its regulatory arsenal.
Officers responded to the 700 block of Logan Street on the afternoon of May 14, 2026, where one occupant of a vehicle was killed and two others were injured. The driver, Dasharay Ben’e, admitted to drinking before the crash and later returned a blood alcohol concentration of 0.168 on toxicology. That is more than twice the legal limit in Kentucky, which sits at 0.08 like every other state in the country.
For reference, a BAC of 0.168 is not a “had a couple beers with dinner” reading. That is a number that takes real effort…