South Carolina Personal Injury Attorneys

A five-year-old girl in Clarksville,TN fell into a vat of grease located  just a few feet away from the patio tables where the family was eating at a Sonic restaurant.

The vat was under shrubbery that was only a few feet from the tables and chairs on the business’ patio, and was covered by a round disk that was partly visible through the mulch.

Although the disk was stamped with a caution that read, “Warning: Do Not Enter. Poison Gas,” the disk was knocked off when the young girl fell in.

According to WLTX, the girl’s mother said her daughter was “engulfed in grease.”

The girl’s father could not see the girl at first under the nearly five feet of grease, but was able to pull her out when she raised her hands for help. She was rushed to the hospital and treated for minor injuries, including grease that had been lodged in her ears.

Incredibly, this isn’t the first time a child has fallen into a grease pit at Sonic.

There are three other reports of children between the ages of 2 and 4 falling into Sonic Drive-In grease pits in the Nashville area.

In 2007, a four year old girl fell into one of the Sonic manholes. The family thought it was just a freak accident until they heard about the girl from Clarksville who nearly drowned.

The main flaw is that the manholes are only a few feet from where children eat and play, and even thought the pits have protective coverings, they can easily be dislodged by a curious child.

You can read Sonic Corporate Office’s full response to these incidents here.