LA VISTA, Neb. — A bartender and two patrons got sick after drinking a cleaning solution that was improperly stored in a liquor bottle at a Nebraska movie theater.
The Alamo Drafthouse serves drinks and screens movies. On Tuesday, a bartender grabbed the wrong bottle and poured a toxic cleaning solution that was stored in a liquor bottle into shot glasses for two women at the bar, WOWT reported.
One of the victims, Sarah Baker, was released from the hospital Wednesday but has since gone to see a doctor again, WOWT reported. She said she has a sore throat and feels lethargic.
“It really is scary because what kind of idiot runs a place and does something like that?” Sarah Baker’s husband, Chris Baker, said to WOWT.
Company officials said the employee was fired and additional retraining is taking place.
“This is a truly awful situation, and we have made contact with the guests so we can do everything we can to make this right,” officials said in a statement to WOWT. “We are sincerely sorry and have already put in place a thorough review to ensure that this was an isolated incident and we firmly believe it was. Our company’s health and safety procedures were clearly not followed, and the employee responsible has been terminated. We have initiated a full staff retraining to ensure that it does not happen again."
State law prohibits bars and restaurants from storing toxic substances in a way that can contaminate items meant for consumption.
"It’s frightening and a little shocking. But we can’t just write it off to stuff happens. Someone ... neglected what they were doing or how they did it,” Sarpy County Attorney Lee Polikov told WOWT. "We have to be suspicious, I think, of any victimization when anybody receives some harm. Especially public harm. It doesn’t make any sense, but it’s not an accident.”
The Nebraska Liquor Commission is also investigating.
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