bloodrayne
07-12-2006, 11:42 AM
Tainted Drinks Injure Trio
Caustic cleaner mistaken for sugar by restaurant workers
Columbia, South Carolina - A woman began spitting up blood and her sister and a friend suffered burns in their mouths after drinking martinis laced with a caustic cleaning substance Saturday night at a downtown Columbia restaurant.
The three became sick about 10 p.m. after each drank a second peach martini at Doc’s Gumbo Grille at 1115 Assembly St.
The rims of the martini glasses were supposed to be dipped in sugar. Instead, they were mistakenly dipped in a caustic substance used to clean the restaurant’s fryer, restaurant owner Doug Goolsby said Monday.
Columbia police Sgt. Florence McCants said it appeared to be a “horrific accident” caused by a “breakdown of communication.” The investigation is continuing.
Rita Hammond, 42, of Columbia, was listed in good condition Monday afternoon at Palmetto Health Richland, a hospital spokeswoman said. She was placed in intensive care Saturday night.
Her sister, Sandy Couillard, 43, of Columbia, was discharged Sunday.
Their friend, 51-year-old Freddie Kelly of Lexington, initially went to Lexington Medical Center but left because it was too crowded. He said his lips, palate and tongue were burned but felt better after he swished his mouth with milk and spit it out.
Couillard said her sister spit up blood after her tongue started to peel. Hammond used her cell phone to call an ambulance.
Kelly’s tongue also appeared to be peeling, Couillard said, and her lips felt like they were “ballooning up.”
“I woke up this morning with blood on my pillow,” Couillard said Monday, showing her cracked lips at her liquor store on Charleston Highway in Cayce. “I have no taste at all.”
Goolsby said investigators with city police and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control interviewed his employees and “realized it was a mistake.”
“I hate that anybody gets hospitalized at your place of business,” said Goolsby, who has run the restaurant on Assembly Street since December 2003 after moving it from Gervais Street. “Mistakes happen, and it’s regrettable.”
Goolsby said the incident occurred after a bartender who has worked at the restaurant about four months ran out of sugar. Not knowing where to find it, she asked a dishwasher for help.
The dishwasher, also a new employee who speaks mainly Spanish, gave her a box containing a white substance that looked like sugar. Goolsby said sugar is stored in a pantry.
The bartender didn’t examine the box, which was labeled “Clean Force Fryer Cleaner,” and used a scoop to put the white substance into another container, Goolsby said.
Goolsby said he and his employees feel bad about the incident, noting the bartender, whom he described as experienced, “left here about 20 minutes ago bawling her eyes out.”
He declined to identify the dishwasher or bartender.
The peach martini was a special drink offered at the restaurant that night.
State health department spokesman Adam Myrick said investigators planned to interview the victims and restaurant employees, though he didn’t provide a timetable.
The restaurant received the highest rating of an “A” when last inspected June 4, Myrick said. He also said employees had “everything in order, stored clearly and labeled clearly” when the restaurant was inspected Monday.
Goolsby said he called an emergency number listed on the fryer cleaning box when he learned of the incident. A company representative told him the victims should drink water.
Goolsby said he emptied out the box and gave it to an emergency worker to give to hospital staff. But he said there appeared to be confusion about the substance when he talked to one of Hammond’s relatives Sunday at the hospital.
Goolsby said the cleaning substance, which is used once a week on the fryer, now is stored in the restaurant’s basement.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/15010237.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp
Caustic cleaner mistaken for sugar by restaurant workers
Columbia, South Carolina - A woman began spitting up blood and her sister and a friend suffered burns in their mouths after drinking martinis laced with a caustic cleaning substance Saturday night at a downtown Columbia restaurant.
The three became sick about 10 p.m. after each drank a second peach martini at Doc’s Gumbo Grille at 1115 Assembly St.
The rims of the martini glasses were supposed to be dipped in sugar. Instead, they were mistakenly dipped in a caustic substance used to clean the restaurant’s fryer, restaurant owner Doug Goolsby said Monday.
Columbia police Sgt. Florence McCants said it appeared to be a “horrific accident” caused by a “breakdown of communication.” The investigation is continuing.
Rita Hammond, 42, of Columbia, was listed in good condition Monday afternoon at Palmetto Health Richland, a hospital spokeswoman said. She was placed in intensive care Saturday night.
Her sister, Sandy Couillard, 43, of Columbia, was discharged Sunday.
Their friend, 51-year-old Freddie Kelly of Lexington, initially went to Lexington Medical Center but left because it was too crowded. He said his lips, palate and tongue were burned but felt better after he swished his mouth with milk and spit it out.
Couillard said her sister spit up blood after her tongue started to peel. Hammond used her cell phone to call an ambulance.
Kelly’s tongue also appeared to be peeling, Couillard said, and her lips felt like they were “ballooning up.”
“I woke up this morning with blood on my pillow,” Couillard said Monday, showing her cracked lips at her liquor store on Charleston Highway in Cayce. “I have no taste at all.”
Goolsby said investigators with city police and the state Department of Health and Environmental Control interviewed his employees and “realized it was a mistake.”
“I hate that anybody gets hospitalized at your place of business,” said Goolsby, who has run the restaurant on Assembly Street since December 2003 after moving it from Gervais Street. “Mistakes happen, and it’s regrettable.”
Goolsby said the incident occurred after a bartender who has worked at the restaurant about four months ran out of sugar. Not knowing where to find it, she asked a dishwasher for help.
The dishwasher, also a new employee who speaks mainly Spanish, gave her a box containing a white substance that looked like sugar. Goolsby said sugar is stored in a pantry.
The bartender didn’t examine the box, which was labeled “Clean Force Fryer Cleaner,” and used a scoop to put the white substance into another container, Goolsby said.
Goolsby said he and his employees feel bad about the incident, noting the bartender, whom he described as experienced, “left here about 20 minutes ago bawling her eyes out.”
He declined to identify the dishwasher or bartender.
The peach martini was a special drink offered at the restaurant that night.
State health department spokesman Adam Myrick said investigators planned to interview the victims and restaurant employees, though he didn’t provide a timetable.
The restaurant received the highest rating of an “A” when last inspected June 4, Myrick said. He also said employees had “everything in order, stored clearly and labeled clearly” when the restaurant was inspected Monday.
Goolsby said he called an emergency number listed on the fryer cleaning box when he learned of the incident. A company representative told him the victims should drink water.
Goolsby said he emptied out the box and gave it to an emergency worker to give to hospital staff. But he said there appeared to be confusion about the substance when he talked to one of Hammond’s relatives Sunday at the hospital.
Goolsby said the cleaning substance, which is used once a week on the fryer, now is stored in the restaurant’s basement.
http://www.thestate.com/mld/thestate/15010237.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp