COLUSA, CA (MPG) – Ayden Erickson was 17 years old when he came from Montana to California on a trip with a family friend and never made it home again.
The Kalispell teenager died over two years ago from a head injury he sustained in a freak accident, shortly after servers at a popular Colusa bar and eatery on the Sacramento River plied him with alcohol.
“We may never know the truth about what really happened,” said Erickson’s aunt, Breanne Pritchett, about the shocking incident on May 19, 2022, that tore her family apart from grief and shined a dim light on a small community that rallied behind its own.
According to the State of California Alcohol and Beverage Control, which opened a Target Responsibility for Alcohol Connected Emergencies investigation shortly after the teen’s death, three servers at Slough House Social illegally served the 17-year-old 10 alcoholic beverages over 90 minutes, before giving him three more shots, which he downed in quick succession.
According to video obtained and released by Sacramento TV station KOVR, Erickson then got into a confrontation with one server, who slapped him in the face, before she helped him walk to the parking lot and get into a pickup truck.
The California Highway Patrol, who responded to a 911 call about one mile from the restaurant, said Erikson’s drinking companion at the bar, Joseph Edward Page, 65, who first claimed to be the boy’s stepfather, drove away from the bar with a blood alcohol greater than .2 and that, somehow, an equally intoxicated Erickson climbed from the vehicle’s window and fell to his death.
Colusa County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey A. Thompson on Oct. 16 sentenced Page to two years in prison after Page pleaded no contest in August to Felony Vehicular Manslaughter while Intoxicated without Gross Negligence.
Pritchett, along with Erickson’s aunts Alanna and Brittney Erickson, grandmother Denise Erickson, and mother Jamie Erickson, traveled from Montana for the hearing to give statements to the court about how the teen’s tragic death has left a void in their lives.
“The day Ayden died, so did I,” sobbed Jamie Erikson, before breaking down and passing her impact statement to a friend to finish reading.
As Erickson’s family described through tears their unbearable loss and the reality that he would never graduate high school, never marry, never have children, and never grow old, Page wiped away tears, comforted only by his attorney, Matthew Smith, who placed an arm around his shoulder.
Erickson’s family said the hearing was the first time Page showed any true emotion about the teen’s death but he has never expressed remorse for his part in allowing the 17-year-old to illegally drink alcohol.
“I’m glad he is finally taking responsibility and that he will have to serve at least some time in jail,” Brittney Erickson said.
Erickson’s aunts described their nephew, who was an only child, as a gregarious young man who loved his family, his friends, his girlfriend, and his animals.
They said after the hearing that the details of the incident were shocking.
Pritchett said they learned from law enforcement that Page was evasive after they responded to a 911 call made by a woman who had left the restaurant shortly after him. Deputies from the Colusa County Sheriff’s Office found Erickson on the road less than a mile from the bar with what would be a fatal blunt-force injury to his head. The California Highway Patrol investigated the incident after Erickson was transported to the hospital in grave condition.
“Joe didn’t even call 911,” Pritchett said. “A witness did. And it was the witness who tried to help Ayden…not Joe.”
After being notified, the family flew from Montana to Sacramento to be at Erickson’s bedside, where they learned his body was only being kept alive by artificial means.
Pritchett said the family eventually accepted his death and honored Erickson’s memory by giving four California residents another chance at life. UC Davis staff memorialized his short life with an honor walk, a somber procession through the hallways of the hospital, as they took his body to an operating room for organ removal.
The family has received a letter from the recipient of Erickson’s heart and said after the hearing they would visit the memorial wall in Sacramento, where the teen’s name is etched, before they returned to Montana.
But as Erickson’s family attempts to move on from their heartbreak of losing a beloved son, grandson, and nephew, they said they have yet to find closure.
Erickson’s aunts said learning the details of what had transpired at the bar was heartbreaking, but it was the response by the restaurant owner and the Colusa community that compounded their grief.
“The bar owners never once apologized,” Alanna Erikson said. “They were only worried about protecting their brand.”
Even after the California ABC filed a disciplinary action against the bar for furnishing alcoholic beverages to a minor and service to the obviously intoxicated minor, the family said Slough House management failed to take responsibility, posting on social media to a sympathetic community that the forced closure of the bar and restaurant on March 19, 2023, was an unfair “take down” by the State of California after their long and silent battle to keep the establishment open.
ABC Director Eric Hirata, however, said the state is unyielding to establishments that illegally furnish alcohol to minors or over-serve its patrons, especially when it leads to injury or death.
“Preventing underage drinking and over-intoxication is a public safety priority,” Hirata said in a news release after the incident. “We want to remind licensees to check IDs and not over-serve patrons to help keep Californians safe.”
The restaurant and bar, although it kept the Slough House Social name, has since reopened with new owners, management, and staff whose emphasis is on good food and a safe atmosphere for patrons.
Page, who had been out of jail on bail since the incident, was taken into custody at the hearing and remanded to the Colusa County Jail to serve out his sentence.