Police are investigation the death of 35-year-old Rodney “Krook” Hawkins at the Ruby Tuesday’s in Lovejoy, Georgia. Hawkins went into anaphylactic shock when he was served Chicken Oscar, a dish with crab meat. Hawkins was fiercely allergic to shellfish.
The restaurant is claiming that Hawkins got what he ordered and that he server’s order pad and the kitchen ticket indicate that Hawkins ordered the Chicken Oscar. His wife says, however, says that he was very careful and ordered a different dish. The police appear to agree. George Bureau of Investigations spokesman John Bankhead said “He had ordered the Chicken Fresco and the Chicken Oscar was brought out by mistake,” said GBI spokesman John Bankhead.
While no criminal charges will be filed, his wife has retained an attorney for an expected tort lawsuit. There is an obvious case for negligence and the injury here is foreseeable given the significant number of people with allergies to peanuts, shellfish etc.
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Eh, gimme a break. The guy didn’t see the crab? Choke on it!
To Dany…
According to the news report, the Chicken Oscar also had a vegetable on it. Mr. Hawkins had the shellfish allergy since he was 7 years old. He most likely would not recognize the taste of crab in a dish that was all mixed up with sauce and herbs and veggies, nor would he particularly notice the culinary presentation. Also, the lighting in some of the areas of RT is not the greatest. No one is expecting to be served a dish that the person knows will make them ill…or worse. So instead of sniffing and snooping around our food, we generally dig right in and eat it.
To the Manager and Waitress at RT: Regardless of what shows on the ticket from the waitress and the ticket for the cook, a FATAL MISTAKE was made. Do you really believe that anyone in his or her right mind believes that Mr. Hawkins ordered a crab dish? The waitress made the error, or the cook. One of them did not get it right!
i dont understand why he ate it? if the crab meat was visible???
i work at ruby tuesday, the chicken oscar has four pieces of crabmeat on top! i believe he was blind not being able to see it!
…Oscar, Oscar, Oscar.
russ,
Your sense of humor is the best! Thanks for sharing.
Coming soon: releases of any liability need to be signed & witnessed before you will be served food at a restaurant.
Unfortunately, attorneys will go after this attempt by arguing you cannot waive negligence.
End result: in 20 years we will all be eating our own leftovers from the refrigerator and restaurants will have been turned into low income housing.
A very sad mistake that was costly for Mr. Hawkins. I have a feeling that Ruby Tuesday will be settling this one our of court to prevent the negative publicity.