Beer poisoned, permanently injured former cop: Lawsuit

An Atlantic City restaurant is the target of a lawsuit filed by a retired New Jersey cop who claims he was permanently injured by a tainted beer served there.

Richard Washart of Ocean City has filed a suit against McCormick and Schmick’s at Harrah’s Casino alleging that one swig of a draft beer led to searing pain and bloody vomit, NBC reported, adding that the suspected cause of his reaction was a beer-line cleaning agent.

“You would have thought that a bartender would have noticed something wrong with the beer,” said Washart’s attorney, Paul D’Amato, in a related Philly.com report. “A friend had handed the beer to [Washart] and the friend said the beer looked ‘shiny’ and had no head on it. … The shiny stuff was the cleaning solution that remained in the beer. “

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After the incident, Washart was hospitalized with burns to his digestive tract, NBC stated, and he now says he still feels discomfort and requires medical treatment. The caustic liquid burned away almost 25 percent of his stomach lining, Philly.com added.

“My future is uncertain as far as the medical side of things go,” Washart was quoted by NBC.

D’Amato claimed McCormick and Schmick’s managers said beer distributor Kramer Beverage, who is also named in the lawsuit, cleaned the beer lines, but its CEO said they weren’t there the day Washart was injured, ABC reported.

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“Nobody is admitting responsibility,” D’Amato said to NBC. “That’s why we’re asking people — somebody’s out there that knows what happened — to come forward, and let’s avoid a full blown trial.”

A McCormick and Schmick’s representative did not return calls for comment, according to Philly.com, which quoted Washart: “I will never forget, not just the incredible burning sensation from my mouth to my stomach, but also being told how I could have died from drinking that beer. … It is a nightmare with which I live every day.”