Ex-Cop Sues Restaurant for Allegedly Serving Him Tainted Draft Beer

His attorney claims it was laced with "a powerful caustic cleaning solution."

A New Jersey man is filing suit against an Atlantic City restaurant after he claims he was served draft beer laced with dangerous cleaning products. According to Press of Atlantic City, retired police officer Richard Washart was celebrating a business deal at seafood chain McCormick & Schmick's inside Harrah's casino in 2012 when he accidentally ingested the contaminated beer.

According to the lawsuit filed in the Superior Court of New Jersey, Washart ordered a Sam Adams Winter Lager on draft and after taking the first sip, "he immediately felt pain from his mouth to his sternum." He ran to the bathroom where he began vomiting profusely, and soon began throwing up blood. Washart was hospitalized for a week and says he's still receiving treatment for his injuries, which according to the suit "include[s] erosion of about 25 percent of his stomach lining."

A press release from the law firm representing Washart claims the beer was "drawn from a tap system line that contained a powerful caustic cleaning solution." The suit is scheduled to go to trial in 2016. Eater is awaiting comment from McCormick & Schmick's.

Washart isn't the first person to suffer serious injuries from accidentally consuming cleaning products at a restaurant: In 2014 a Dickey's Barbecue customer drank tea that was laced with a lye-based industrial cleaner and wound up in the hospital in critical condition; she later settled for an undisclosed sum. Then earlier this year, a cop claimed he was poisoned after drinking cleaning solution from a McDonald's iced tea dispenser; and in July, Starbucks was sued for $2 million by a customer who claimed she was served a drink laced with a cleaning solution used on coffee and espresso machines.

Short of preparing all their beverages at home, it might be difficult for consumers to protect themselves from these types of rare but dangerous situations — but restaurants would be wise to implement strict policies on when and how their beverage systems must be cleaned in order to stave off future lawsuits.

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