kcota@postandcourier.com

The Sweet Grass Vodka lounge, pictured Nov. 16, 2022, in The Refinery complex on Meeting Street Road in Charleston.

BY TERI ERRICO GRIFFIS and KAILEY COTA

Now that police have offered a glimpse of what happened in the hours leading up to two 20-year-olds being struck and killed on a Charleston street, more questions swirl about how one of the men accused in the fatal hit-and-run could have been served alcohol at one bar in particular.

An investigator testified in court July 17 that Seth Carlson, 33, allegedly drank several beverages at Sweetgrass Lounge — a flagship bar for Sweet Grass Vodka that had lost its liquor license a month before the fateful night in late April.

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The Charleston-based spirits business and brand has been swirling in financial and legal trouble for most of 2024.

On March 5, the state Department of Revenue sent a letter to Jarrod Swanger stating that he hadn’t filed his South Carolina personal income taxes in 2020, 2021 and 2022, and also did not have liquor liability insurance coverage for the business. The same month, the state denied renewal of his liquor manufacturer license along with permits to sell on-premises beer, wine and liquor by the drink.

Swanger needed a liquor license to sell and serve alcohol to patrons at his Meeting Street Road lounge, located in The Refinery development on Charleston’s upper peninsula.

Assets inside the lounge and backroom bottling plant, including all liquor, were then seized from the property on April 19 by a creditor owed $2.5 million.

Neither Swanger nor his attorneys could be reached to discuss how he operated a private party at the lounge on April 28.

Staff at Alchemist Wine and Spirits at Six Mile in Mount Pleasant said that liquor was bought wholesale before the private party and charged to the Sweet Grass account.

Leading up to accidents, Carlson was part of a band playing a gig at Sweetgrass Lounge on April 27, Charleston Police Department investigator Jose Bordallo said during a July 17 hearing.

A bartender remembered seeing Carlson drink an Edmund’s Oast beer and shot of tequila before performing, the officer testified. After the gig, the bartender told police Carlson took another tequila shot and finished a band member’s beer so it wouldn’t go to waste, Bordallo said.

Police also talked to a bandmate who recalled Carlson drinking several alcoholic beverages. The band member remembered Carlson drinking one beer, two whiskey drinks and a shot of tequila, Bordallo testified.

Carlson left Sweetgrass Lounge around 9 p.m. and later arrived at Henry’s on the Market, Bordallo said. Bordallo did not present evidence indicating Carlson drank at Henry’s, a longtime business next to the historic Charleston City Market.

Police reported that Carlson was driving north on Morrison Drive around 1:12 a.m. on April 28. Video footage from the scene shows a Chevrolet pickup truck swerving around a slight curve and striking Arianna Gamber and Lizzy Zito as they walked along the roadway just past an entrance ramp to the Arthur Ravenel Jr. Bridge.

The truck, which police identified as driven by Carlson, did not stop after the collision. According to police, video footage a half-mile north of the collision site showed that his front passenger headlight was no longer shining.

Carlson continued driving for 10 minutes until a witness observed him “driving erratically” and eventually saw him crash his truck into a ditch on Sam Rittenberg Boulevard in West Ashley.

The concerned witness got out to check on Carlson and noticed that he smelled of alcohol and was sweating, according to Bordallo’s testimony. Carlson then fled the scene on foot, abandoning his truck.

He was “three sheets to the wind” Bordallo said the woman told police during an interview.

A private company towed the truck on April 28 before police connected it to the double hit-and-run on Morrison Drive. The tow truck driver noted an empty beer bottle inside the truck but did not preserve it, Bordallo said.

A half-hour after the truck struck Gamber and Zito, a second car driven by Max Gentilin, 25, also struck the women, police say.

Video from the scene at 1:43 a.m. shows a car switch lanes just past the entrance to the bridge and veer into a bike lane. It struck the curb and then bounce over the victims’ bodies.

Gentilin had been drinking alcoholic beverages he held in both hands at a bar that night, Bordallo testified before Chief Magistrate Judge Richardine Singleton-Brown. Bordallo did not say which bar that video of Gentilin came from.

A walker discovered the women’s bodies about seven hours later.

Carlson is charged with two counts of hit and run with death and two counts of reckless homicide. Gentilin is charged with two counts of hit and run with death. Both defendants are free on bond.

Reporter

Kailey Cota is a breaking news and public safety reporter for the Post & Courier’s Charleston location. She is a graduate of the University of South Carolina.

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