The Fairbanks Police Department, Alaska Department of Corrections, and Kodiak Jack's are facing a wrongful death lawsuit after the death of 21-year-old Michaela Kitelinger. The lawsuit itself was filed by Kitelinger's parents, who claim the three defendants “share blame for their daughter's death that occurred back on January 1, 2017.” But what happened?It all started back on New Year's Eve 2016 when Kitelinger met with friends at Kodiak Jack's. According to her mother and a report from the Police Department, “she drank into the night.” When she was ready to leave, her car ended up getting “stuck in a snow berm.” Eventually a Fairbanks police officer “stopped to check on her and arrested her.” After handing over her phone and wallet, she was taken to the Fairbanks Correctional Center but was later released. From there, she began “walking in the direction of the house that she shared with siblings” around 6 a.m., but was struck by the vehicle of a “young woman heading to work.” She died instantly. According to the lawsuit, Kitelinger “was wearing dark clothing and walking in the eastbound lane of Davis Road” at the time of the accident.

Fairbanks, Alaska Welcome Sign; Image Courtesy of Welcome Sign Project, https://welcomesignproject.wordpress.com/

An autopsy later reported that her blood-alcohol level was 0.157. For those who don't know, “the legal limit for driving is .08.”So why exactly did Kitelinger's parents file the wrongful death lawsuit? Well, for starters, they claim that while their “daughter made mistakes that night, so did personnel at the nightclub, Police Department, and jail.” In the lawsuit, the Kitelinger's “maintain their daughter was served alcohol at Kodiak Jack’s after becoming 'obviously intoxicated.'”Additionally, the lawsuit highlights the fact that while Kitelinger was taken to the correctional facility, "her phone and wallet were not.” According to her parents, this was a mistake on the police's part because Michaela could have called for help when she was released if she had her phone. The Kitelinger's also claim the jail personnel are partly to blame for their daughter's death because they sent her “out into the cold, dark winter morning penniless, without proper warm clothing and still drunk.”When discussing the incident, Kitelinger's mother, Deborah, said:“I think she was still too intoxicated to be released … You have a moral responsibility, and I believe legal responsibility, to make sure people are safe. When you are that drunk, you don’t realize how cold it is. It affects your response time. It affects your processing time.”Rick Mensik, the owner of Kodiak Jack's, also commented on the matter, saying the young girl's death was a tragedy. He said, “I feel just terrible for this family. The whole community was upset about this happening.” However, he pushed back against the accusation that she was “served too much at his bar.” According to him, customer safety has been a top priority ever since he began operating nightclubs in 1992.A response to the lawsuit, which was filed on October 20, 2017, is still pending from the state Corrections Department.

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Parents file lawsuit in Jan. 1, 2017, death of daughterParents File Wrongful Death Lawsuit in Death of Daughter