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  • 2017-04-04 (xsd:date)
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  • Did an Immigrant Make a Girl Sick by Putting Peanut Butter in Her Sandwich? (en)
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  • On 7 June 2016, AmericasFreedomFighters.com posted a story reporting that an immigrant poisoned a Massachusetts girl who had a severe peanut allergy by putting peanut butter in her cheese sandwich, despite the fact her parents notified the restaurant of her medical condition: Neither the Boston Globe story cited by the web site nor the original lawsuit, filed 2 June 2016 in Middlesex Superior Court, allege that an immigrant worker at the Panera in Natick, a town just outside Boston, poisoned the 5-year-old girl. The idea originated from a section in the Globe story in which her father John Russo recounts being told by a store manager that the mistake was caused by a language barrier — an explanation he rejected: An e-mail seeking comment sent to an attorney representing the Panera franchise was not returned. According to the lawsuit, the girl's mother, Elissa Russo, placed an online order for the family's dinner with Panera that included a grilled cheese sandwich for the allergic child (identified only by the initials A.R. in the lawsuit complaint). Russo indicated in two separate places on the online order form that the sandwich was for a child with a peanut allergy. An image of the order form was provided along with the lawsuit complaint by the family's attorney, Mary Vargas: When A.R. began eating, she noticed her sandwich tasted funny, so her grandfather pried the bread apart, only to find a dollop of peanut butter inside, according to the lawsuit: The lawsuit says that after A.R. began feeling ill and vomiting, her pediatrician advised her parents to take her to the hospital. (She was released a few hours later.) The incident caused A.R. to be fearful of eating at restaurants, according to the complaint. The lawsuit seeks damages for emotional distress and alleges negligence on the part of the restaurant, among other accusations: Although it is possible the peanut butter could have been put in the sandwich due to a language barrier, the lawsuit does not say that was the case. Nowhere in the lawsuit is a language barrier — or presence of an immigrant worker — mentioned. Further, the girl's father did not believe that to be a probable explanation, given the similarities between the English and Spanish words for allergy. That claim seems to have been taken out of context from the Boston Globe's reporting and then manipulated to suit a political agenda. (en)
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