Wis. family suing Mexican resort after daughter's death

MADISON (WKOW) -- A family from the Madison area tells ABC News they are taking legal action against a Mexican resort, after their 20-year-old daughter was found face down in the hotel swimming pool and later died.  

Bill Conner, the young woman's father, tells ABC News his daughter Abbey and her brother Austin were both found blacked out in the pool in January, but Austin survived.  He had a concussion, while Abbey had a broken collarbone and was brain dead.  She died at a Florida hospital.  Their blood alcohol levels were both around 0.25, three times the legal driving limit in Wisconsin.  

"The bartender pours out a line of shots, and they come all the way down, and I take one, and you know everyone else does," recalls Austin Conner.  "And the last thing I remember was, just like we are right now, sitting here talking and lights went out, and I woke up in the ambulance."

Abbey's death was ruled an accidental drowning, but the Conner family is demanding more answers, along with nearly a dozen other families whose loved ones died or were injured after consuming alcohol during their Mexican vacations.  Mexican officials say, over the past seven years they've seized more than a million gallons of tainted alcohol from Mexican businesses, including resorts.  However the Iberostar Resort, where the Conners stayed, was not of the places with tainted alcohol, the Mexican Health Ministry tells ABC News.  

You may recognize Bill Conner's name from another story on 27 News.  He rode his bike from Madison to Florida, in memory of Abbey and to raise money about organ donation.  

For more on this story: http://www.wkow.com/story/35972892/2017/07/26/wis-family-suing-mexican-resort-after-daughters-death


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