Lawsuit says drink was spiked at McDonald’s
Aug 1, 2018, 6:52 AM | Updated: 8:15 am
SALT LAKE CITY — A South Jordan man’s lawsuit accuses a Riverton McDonald’s restaurant of spiking his Diet Coke with a heroin substitute.
Trevor Walker says he went through the drive-through, ordered a Diet Coke for himself and one for his wife, took a drink, and soon felt terribly wrong. His wife went to work. He passed out in front of his children, right after handing over the baby.
Rachelle Walker rushed home and took the lid off her husband’s drink. According to the court documents, unlike her soda, which looked normal, her husband’s appeared to have some kind of “film on the surface.”
Court documents show the Utah State Crime Lab tested a sample of Walker’s drink. They detected buprenorphine, a drug used to treat painkiller addiction. A urine test at the hospital also tested positive for the drug.
“There was an immediate sense of, ah, something happened. But then we thought, ‘what in the heck is this?'” he said to KSL TV. “Why on earth did this happen, was this a mistake, was this on purpose?”
According to the lawsuit, the McDonald’s surveillance video from the day in question, in August 2016, was deleted. That’s even though police opened an investigation right away, because Rachelle Walker called them from the hospital while her husband was being treated. The Walkers claim that deleted video is the main reason no one has ever been arrested or charged in connection with Trevor’s illness.
Walker says he still has effects today, even two years later.
The lawsuit argues that a McDonald’s manager, whose brother was also employed by the restaurant, knew her brother had problems with drug use and had posted on social media about “disrespecting… customers through the drive-thru window.” They are unnamed by the lawsuit, which claims they quit just after being interviewed by police.
Walker is suing for his medical expenses as well as legal expenses and loss of income, though the suit does not specify a dollar amount for the claims. In addition to the McDonald’s restaurant, it names Coca-Cola and its distributor, Swire Coca-Cola of Draper. KSL and the Deseret News have reached out for comment, but so far, none of the companies has responded.
Read more about the lawsuit in the Deseret News here.
