Mountain Brook man, 20, charged with manslaughter in DUI crash that killed 19-year-old Alabama student

Mountain Brook man, 20, charged with manslaughter in DUI crash that killed 19-year-old Alabama student

A 20-year-old Mountain Brook man has been charged in the June DUI traffic crash that killed one of his passengers on U.S. 280 at Hollywood Boulevard.

Gabriel Alexander “Gabe” Uncapher, 20, is charged with manslaughter in the death of 19-year-old Virginia Elizabeth “Cricket” Davis.

Uncapher was booked into the Jefferson County Jail at 7:42 a.m. Tuesday and released at 8:39 a.m. after posting $30,000 bond.

The crash happened at 2:20 a.m. Sunday, June 18, on U.S. 280 at Hollywood Boulevard.

According to a civil suit filed against Uncapher, his father Dr. William Uncapher and Zydeco bar on Birmingham’s Southside, Uncapher and Davis attended a concert together at Zydeco on Saturday, June 17. They left the bar in Sunday’s early morning hours.

With Uncapher behind the wheel of his 2000 Jeep Grand Cherokee, they crashed.

According to the civil suit, Uncapher lost control “due to his intoxicated condition and while operating a vehicle at an extremely high rate of speed, causing it to leave the roadway, strike a guardrail and violent roll over into some large trees.”

Davis, who was in the back seat, sustained blunt force injuries. She was pronounced dead on the scene at 2:23 a.m.

The deadly crash was investigated by Birmingham police.

Efforts to reach Zydeco for comment were unsuccessful. The civil lawsuit, in part, says the bar was negligent in serving alcohol to minors.

Davis was a graduate of The Altamont School, where she was co-captain of the tennis team. According to her obituary, she received many awards in voice and acting, and sang a solo at graduation.

At the time of her death, she had just finished her freshman year at the University of Alabama where she was a member of Delta Zeta sorority.

“We are disappointed that the charge was not murder,’’ Davis’s mother, Lea Bone, told AL.com.

“Gabe was four times the legal limit for his and driving over 90 mph,’’ Bone said. “When the police arrived at the scene, Gabe denied he was driving the vehicle, which was later discovered to be a lie.”

“He has shown absolutely no remorse,’’ Bone said.

Davis had thought of law school and attending Cambridge University.

“Cricket was such a light, as was demonstrated by the over 400 people who attended her funeral,’’ her mother said. “Cricket deserves the justice that would come in the form of a murder charge.”

Uncapher is represented by lawyers Tommy Spina and Ben Preston.

“Gabe has expressed remorse and contrition to those he has spoken with about the accident, including his voluntary statement to the Birmingham Police Department in the weeks following the wreck,’’ Spina said.

“He expects punishment and is prepared to accept the consequences for his actions and behavior that brought about the death of Cricket,’’ he said. “Regrettably, our system of criminal justice doesn’t provide a mechanism to express that remorse and contrition directly to those most affected by his actions at this point in time.”