Family of slain Palos Hills Marine Daniel Martinez plans to sue Boston bar where he was killed
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The family of a murdered U.S. Marine from Palos Hills plans to file a lawsuit against the Boston bar where he was stabbed to death last weekend.
The family of 23-year-old Daniel Martinez announced their plans to file a wrongful death lawsuit just one day before the wake for the veteran who was slain while visiting friends in Boston.
On Saturday, Martinez and his friends left the Sons of Boston bar, and when they tried to go back inside, they got in an argument with the bouncer, 38-year-old Alvaro Larrama.
They walked away from the bar, but Larrama followed them.
Police have said Larrama hit Martinez in the head with an aluminum beer bottle, and then stabbed him in the chest, before going back into the bar to wash off the blood.
Martinez family attorney Thomas Flaws said Larrama was illegally allowed to work with a weapon, and the bar did nothing to report the stabbing.
"Since Daniel's death, the Sons Of Boston has lost its entertainment license. The city of Boston has alleged the bar allowed a man to staff the door with a weapon without a license to do so. The city's alleged that, after the stabbing, the bar did nothing to call for help for Daniel, or to catch the person who had stabbed him," he said.
Larrama is charged with murder and is being held without bond. He has pleaded not guilty.
Martinez had recently discharged from the Marine Corps after serving four years. His wake will be held Friday, with a private funeral on Saturday.
"I was in complete disbelief that my boy's gone. How is this even possible?" said Martinez's mother, Apolonia Martinez. "He served four years in the Marines, you know, and he came back – and now he's gone? That man does not have any clue how many lives he destroyed when he took my son."
Ms. Martinez told WBZ-TV, Boston's Kristina Rex she can't stop thinking about the last time she saw her son last week.
"He hugged me so tight and he said, 'Mom I love you and I'll see you soon,' and I thought, 'I'll see you soon.' And now it's not going to be soon. It's going to be in another life, on another world in heaven," Apolonia Martinez said. "I think I could have held him a little bit longer, I could have stopped him from going."