Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Nebraska Moviegoers Hospitalized After Theater Accidentally Mixes Cleaning Fluid Into Their Drinks

Nebraska Moviegoers Hospitalized After Theater Accidentally Mixes Cleaning Fluid Into Their Drinks
Estradaanton / Getty Images

In our busy society, going out for the evening with a dear friend can be a difficult thing to make happen, but it's certainly worth all the scheduling trouble.

But when these two moviegoers went to see a movie together at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema in La Vista, Nebraska they surely weren't expecting to end up in the hospital.


On Tuesday, two women went to the movies together and also ordered limited-time cocktails that were inspired by the film, Ford vs. Ferrari.

One woman—identified as Sarah Baker—allegedly started sipping on her drink during the movie when she began to feel her lips burning and the skin peeling away. She hurried to the restroom with her friend—who remains anonymous—where they both began violently vomiting.

Baker stated to the police they witnessed the making of their drinks and all of the liquid mixtures used came from standard liquor bottles. Bob Lausten—Chief of Police for the La Vista Police Department—discovered that the mixed drinks the two women had ordered were partially made with a toxic cleaning solution.

He also was able to confirm Baker's observation that the server only used ingredients from liquor bottles. It turned out a toxic cleaning solution was stored in a Pama Pomegranate Liqueur bottle, which is one of the key ingredients for the Ford vs. Ferrari cocktail.

Because of the strange storage solution, Lausten also has reason to believe that the server, while having served the two women toxic drinks, did so by mistake by grabbing the wrong Pama Pomegranate bottle.

The two women were quickly transported to the hospital, where they received treatment. 

The cleaning solution has since been identified as a beer-line cleaner, meant to sanitize and clear tap connections and beer kegs.

One of the servers on-staff also tried one of the drinks, and she experienced the same burning in her esophagus and on her lips the two moviegoers had reported. It's unclear if she received treatment after trying the mixture, however.

People were confused and appalled by the mistake. 





Alamo Drafthouse released a statement about the horrible mistake.

They also confirmed that whoever was responsible, while it was an accident, was fired. Whether that person was the server or whoever chose to store hazardous chemicals in an empty liquor bottle is unclear.

The company stated:

"On Tuesday January 28, 2020, two guests and a staff member were accidentally served a cleaning solution in their drinks. 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."
"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."

The two women were treated and released to return home. 

According to Lausten, an investigation into this situation is ongoing to ensure it was a singular incident and to ensure the company is doing all it can to keep something like this from happening again.

It's safe to say this isn't how these two women intended to spend the evening together, but hopefully they'll have an all-around better experience next time.

More from Trending

Alex Cooper singing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'
@MBDChicago/Twitter (X)

'Call Her Daddy' Host Alex Cooper Gets Brutally Booed At Wrigley Field After Painfully Off-Key Singing

If there's one thing that all baseball fans can come together about, it's the importance of their traditions—and songs.

In the seventh inning at Wrigley Field during a match between the Cubs and the Cardinals, popular Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper was invited to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and brought two backup dancers with her.

Keep ReadingShow less
Linda Yaccarino
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

X CEO Resigns Day After AI Chatbot Grok Praised Hitler In Alarming Series Of Antisemitic Tweets

Linda Yaccarino—the former NBC Universal executive who later took the reins at X—stepped down as CEO of billionaire Elon Musk's platform after two years on the job just a day after Grok, the platform's AI chatbot, went on antisemitic rants and openly praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok issued deeply antisemitic responses on Tuesday following a reported software update that encouraged the bot to embrace what developers described as the “politically incorrect.” Taking that directive to heart, Grok responded with a series of disturbing posts that included praise for Hitler and even a statement expressing its aspiration to become a “digital version” of the Nazi leader.

Keep ReadingShow less
Black and white photo of a falling spider.
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

People Divulge Their 'Rare' Phobias That People Refuse To Believe

I am a SEVERE claustrophobic.

I have struggled with this issue for decades.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ted Cruz
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

'The Onion' Rips Ted Cruz With Brutal Headline After Yet Another Vacation During Texas Disaster

The satirical news site The Onion had social media users cackling with its brutal headline mocking Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz for once again being out of the country when Texas was hit by another deadly natural disaster.

Cruz faced considerable national backlash after he flew to Cancún while millions of people went without food and water as a result of the February 2021 Texas power disaster. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly; some estimates suggested as many as 702 people were killed as a result of the crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk and Grimes
Kevin Tachman/Getty Images for Vogue

Elon Musk's Ex Grimes Calls X Platform A 'Poison' And 'Theatre' After Social Media Hiatus

Claire Boucher—who performs and creates under her stage name Grimes, but prefers her birth name or just "C" offstage—recently returned to her musical persona's social media accounts after taking a hiatus for her own well-being.

Once extremely active, she noted on X in April:

Keep ReadingShow less