Alameda Mother Arrested In Teen's Drunk Driving Death
ALAMEDA (CBS/AP)— An Alameda mother has been arrested on suspicion of helping her child's teenage friend buy alcohol hours before the girl was killed in a drunken-driving crash.
51-year-old Amelia Chin was arrested on Tuesday on suspicion of furnishing alcohol to a minor.
Authorities also arrested 45-year-old Abduhl Azeem Buksh, the clerk at the Good N Rich Dairy Market in South San Francisco where the girl allegedly got the alcohol.
The state Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control says Chin accompanied 17-year-old Margaret Qaqish to the market on Feb. 4 and stood by as Qaqish bought the alcohol from Buksh.
Qaqish died when the car she was traveling in crashed on southbound 101 in Brisbane just hours after the purchase according to investigators. She was not behind the wheel, but her friend, an 18-year old driver, was and pleaded no-contest to drunk driving and vehicular manslaughter charges.
KCBS' Chris Filippi Reports:
Buksh's attorney, John Forsyth, said surveillance video shows his client sold beer and a wine cooler to Chin, not Qaqish.
State Alcoholic Beverage Control spokesman John Carr said Chin is the mother of one of Qaqish's friends.
"The 18-year-old put the money out on the counter and purchased the alcohol in clear view of the clerk and the mother was there," Carr said.
In essence, he added, she helped the teenager buy the alcohol.
Attorney John Forsyth, who represents Buksh, said video from the store's surveillance system shows the adult is the one who took the alcohol.
"At no time did my client sell any alcohol to any minor," Forsyth said.
He added that a store clerk, Vincent Perez, has also been arrested in relation to the incident.
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