15 mth old served margarita instead of Juice at Applebees

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

ok call me slow, what exactly is applebee's saying? that they didn't give the toddler alcohol or the parents are lying about how much was ingested? i'm completely confused. maybe i need more coffee.

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Updated: April 14. 2011 1:00AM .
Toddler's parents sue Applebee's chain
They say cocktail raised boy's blood-alcohol to .10; police say drink had 'trace' amountMike Martindale / The Detroit News

Pontiac— The parents of an Oak Park toddler who was accidentally served a margarita cocktail have sued the Applebee's restaurant chain.

The April 8 incident at an Applebee's in Madison Heights has attracted international attention and even been fodder for jokes by talk show host Jay Leno.

"The reason this has drawn so much attention is because not only is it so bizarre, but it came close to being something very, very serious, and a lot of people wonder if it could have happened to their child," said William Stern, the attorney who filed the suit Tuesday in Oakland County Circuit Court on behalf of parents Taylor Dill-Reese and Dominic Wilson and their 15-month-old son, Dominic Wilson Jr.

The suit, assigned to Judge Nanci Grant, alleges the boy began acting strangely after receiving what was supposed to be apple juice in a sippy cup, ordered with a mini-burger and fries.

"His father was suspicious and took a drink and knew it was not apple juice," Stern said. "No one else was drinking at the table. They are underage. His mother is only 18 years old."

Stern said the boy experienced nausea and was taken to a hospital, where his blood-alcohol level registered .10. A driver with level .08 is considered intoxicated. Police said the cocktail came from a mislabeled bottle.

The lawsuit seeks in excess of $25,000.

Applebee's has apologized and said it was tightening its policy on handling and dispensing drinks...

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110414...17;s-parents-sue-Applebee’s-chain#ixzz1

There is a PDF of Police Report at the above link (it won't transfer via link).

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Here's the link to the PDF document of Police Report of the Applebee's incident:

http://download.gannett.edgesuite.net/detnews/2011/pdf/0413applebeesreport.pdf

 

[chemcopout]

since this isn't the first time this is happened, i think it's a copycat done by the parents to get attention and sue.
it's a sippy cup!! how could an employee mess that up unless they are disgruntled? being they likely interviewed staff, i honestly doubt anyone would want to put alcohol in the baby's cup.

it's a hoax by the parents.

if your child has a sippy cup, then obviously the parents should "test" the drink first, it's just nature to test your childs drink, whether it be too hot, many reasons.

these parents didn't test their child's drink. which is odd, i would love to know if they normally do.

really, they probably did it themselves to sue.

 

[Angels_Not_Forgotten]

chemcopout i don't think it's odd that they didn't taste the drink. I swear i've never thought to do that before! but what you say may be true. i'm just not going to jump on that blame train just yet. I mean, it HAS happened before, ya know?

 

[bessie]

Updated: April 14. 2011 1:00AM .
Toddler's parents sue Applebee's chain
They say cocktail raised boy's blood-alcohol to .10; police say drink had 'trace' amountMike Martindale / The Detroit News

Pontiac— The parents of an Oak Park toddler who was accidentally served a margarita cocktail have sued the Applebee's restaurant chain.

The April 8 incident at an Applebee's in Madison Heights has attracted international attention and even been fodder for jokes by talk show host Jay Leno.

"The reason this has drawn so much attention is because not only is it so bizarre, but it came close to being something very, very serious, and a lot of people wonder if it could have happened to their child," said William Stern, the attorney who filed the suit Tuesday in Oakland County Circuit Court on behalf of parents Taylor Dill-Reese and Dominic Wilson and their 15-month-old son, Dominic Wilson Jr.

The suit, assigned to Judge Nanci Grant, alleges the boy began acting strangely after receiving what was supposed to be apple juice in a sippy cup, ordered with a mini-burger and fries.

"His father was suspicious and took a drink and knew it was not apple juice," Stern said. "No one else was drinking at the table. They are underage. His mother is only 18 years old."

Stern said the boy experienced nausea and was taken to a hospital, where his blood-alcohol level registered .10. A driver with level .08 is considered intoxicated. Police said the cocktail came from a mislabeled bottle.

The lawsuit seeks in excess of $25,000.

Applebee's has apologized and said it was tightening its policy on handling and dispensing drinks...

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110414/METR...http://detnews.com/article/20110414/METRO/104140354/Toddler’s-parents-sue-Applebee’s-chain#ixzz1

There is a PDF of Police Report at the above link (it won't transfer via link).

Thank you for the link to the police report, Bette. The responding officer writes that he tested the drink with his PBT, and it registered .014. So there is a discrepancy. The amount of alcohol the child ingested, however, imho, is irrelevant because the manager admitted the bottle was mislabeled.

From what I gather from the report, a restaurant employee used an empty apple juice bottle to mix a batch of cocktails. The leftover portion remained in the bottle and was poured into the child's sippy cup followed by juice from a fresh bottle. I haven't been behind a bar in eons, but I do recall that it's a major no-no to store alcohol in an un-labelled container or one labelled with a different product. The restaurant is clearly at fault, and any suspicions of a misdeed by the parents should be put to rest. Thank goodness the child is all right. It could have turned out much worse.