Is America Having a Drunk Baby Epidemic?
[There was a video here]
Just two days after we learned of little Dominic Dill-Reese, the toddler from Michigan who accidentally got hammered on margaritas, comes yet another shocking incident of post-fetal alcohol syndrome. The details are strikingly similar — just replace "Applebee's" with "Olive Garden," and "margarita" with "sangria."
"We're eating our meals when the waiter came over and said there's been a mistake, I need to get you a new one and took the glass and kind of scurried away," said Jill Van Heest, mother of two-year-old Nikolai.
She asked him what was in the cup and was told Tropical Sangria, a mixed drink of orange juice, pineapple juice and white wine.
Van Heest spoke to the restaurant manager. "He was very sympathetic, very apologetic, but no real explanation as to how it happened, just that it was a mistake," she said.
Unlike Dominic, who was saying "hi" and "bye" to the walls and eventually passed out head first on the table, Nikolai's behavior was described as "visibly drunk. His eyes were dilated, they were red. He was...getting loud." A trip to the ER and some IV fluids later, and Nikolai has readjusted to a life of sobriety seemingly without incident. Still, Van Heest — who decided to cash in come forward with her story after hearing about Dominic in the news — says he was traumatized by the hospital visit, and she has since hired an attorney.
An Olive Garden spokesperson released a lengthy mea culpa, in which they called the incident "extremely regrettable," and said they took "swift, appropriate action" to deal with an employee who failed to "follow our strict operating procedures." No mention if reparations of unlimited soup, salad, and breadsticks for life were made to the Van Heests behind closed doors.
