Oh, no. Not this again: In today's kids-drinking-alcohol-in-restaurants news, an Indianapolis Olive Garden allegedly served a rum cocktail to a 10-year-old boy.
Local WISH News reports that the child's mother placed an order for a Wildberry Frullato, a fruit smoothie that contains no alcohol. Instead, the waitress delivered a four-ounce drink laden with rum. The boy drank half of it before anyone was the wiser. No one else at the table had ordered an alcoholic drink.
The boy was later taken to the hospital, where alcohol was found in his system. An officer on the scene described the boy as "alert," but "shaken up."
This, of course, is just the latest in a string of incidents involving alcoholic drinks accidentally served to children. Last year, there were several incidents within months of one another.
There was the 15-month-old whose mother ordered him apple juice at Applebee's and got a margarita instead. (The incident led to a retraining for the store's servers nationwide.)
Then, there was the four-year-old girl and two teenagers who were given a sample of a drink that contained peach schnapps and vodka at an Outback Steakhouse, despite assurances from the waiter that the drink was non-alcoholic. (The server involved was later fired.)
Another four-year-old was served an alcoholic mudslide drink instead of a chocolate shake at Chili's. (The incident resulted in an alcohol-ingestion overdose.)
And finally, circling back to Olive Garden, a Florida location served a two-year-old an alcoholic sangria instead of orange juice. (The boy was given fluids at a local hospital and released.)
Olive Garden released a statement about the incident explaining that the employee has been terminated and that the company is thankful the child is okay.