Lexington’s Cook Out eatery sued in Dutch Fork student’s slaying

The parents of Da’Von Capers, the Dutch Fork High School teen knifed to death in 2014 during a high school youth fracas in a Lexington restaurant’s parking lot, have sued the eatery for not providing better security.

The lawsuit alleges that Cook Out not only had no security at the restaurant but that some of its employees went out into the parking lot “anticipating a fight” and “failed to call law enforcement or take any steps to diffuse the escalating confrontations and in fact watched the events.”

Laronzo and Charlene Capers also sued Kierin Dennis, then a recent graduate of Lexington High School, who stabbed the young Capers to death. Dennis’s criminal trial on a murder charge ended in a mistrial in October. No new trial date has been set.

“This is a devastating loss for the family. We are pursuing those who could have stopped the death of Da’Von,” said the Capers’ attorney, Todd Ellis, who filed suit with co-counsel Jerry Reardon.

The Caperses allege that the Cook Out eatery “knew or should have known” that numerous students from Dutch Fork High School and Lexington High, longtime rivals, would be arriving there after the game and that “tensions between the students would be high,” according to the lawsuit filed in Lexington County.

“Cook Out failed to provide appropriate security when it knew or should have known that the business would be crowded and tensions high after a rivalry game,” the lawsuit said.

Jared Garraux, the Columbia lawyer representing Cook Out, said his firm has just received the Caperses’ complaint, is investigating the allegations and expects to file a formal legal response in the near future.

Dennis, then 18, “recklessly” assaulted Capers, who was 17, the lawsuit said. Dennis was driving an SUV and armed with a knife. He said he stabbed Capers, who was at the driver’s side window, because he thought Capers was a threat.

Todd Rutherford, who represented Dennis in his murder trial last fall, said he doesn’t believe Dennis is guilty of anything because he stabbed Capers in self-defense.

In any case, a civil court – and not a criminal court – is the right place for any claims and charges to made against Dennis, Rutherford said.

During Dennis’s criminal trial, which lasted seven days, the jury heard from 30 witnesses and viewed numerous videos, some repeatedly, taken from police interrogations and security cameras. Evidence showed Dennis stabbed Capers in the heart and liver, and he bled to death soon thereafter.

The main issue in the trial was whether Dennis or Capers was the aggressor.

Before the trial began, Rutherford sought to get a circuit court judge to declare that Dennis was entitled to a “stand your ground” ruling, which if granted would have given Dennis immunity from prosecution. Rutherford argued that Capers was coming at Dennis through the car window, and under S.C. law, a person has a right to kill someone attacking them in their home or car.

Prosecutors argued that Capers stood outside the car the entire time and made no hostile moves toward Dennis. No video captured exactly what happened during the stabbing, which took just seconds to unfold. The two young men had never met.

But in February 2015, state Judge Thomas Russo rejected Rutherford’s argument. At the trial, Rutherford argued to the jury that Dennis killed Capers in self-defense as Capers was trying to get at Dennis through the SUV window.

This story was originally published March 16, 2017 at 5:31 PM with the headline "Lexington’s Cook Out eatery sued in Dutch Fork student’s slaying."