Posted on 08/04/2016 2:22:34 PM PDT by rickmichaels
Police in a Quebec town are investigating a young restaurant employee for criminal negligence over a plate of salmon tartare served to a severely allergic client in May that left the man hospitalized for weeks.
Sherbrooke police say a man ordered beef tartare at a local restaurant and specified numerous times to a waiter that he was allergic to both seafood and salmon.
A short time later, police say a plate of salmon tartare was brought to the table and the patron took a bite, unaware of what he'd been served because the lighting had been dimmed.
The client fell ill and was hospitalized for several weeks, even falling into a coma for two days and suffering cardiac arrest.
Martin Carrier of the Sherbrooke Police says he realizes the case is an unusual one, but notes the definition of criminal negligence in the Criminal Code allows for an arrest if there was carelessness or lack of action to ensure the health and safety of others.
Carrier says the waiter allegedly didn't take any notes and the victim repeatedly warned the staffer about the allergy to ensure there wasn't any cross-contamination in the kitchen.
Carrier said Thursday that police arrested a 22-year-old and released him on a promise to appear in court at a later date.
They also searched his home on Wednesday in Sherbrooke, about 150 kilometres east of Montreal.
Police are recommending a criminal negligence charge, but Carrier says it will be up to Quebec's director of criminal and penal prosecutions to determine whether charges will be laid.
Sherbrooke police opened an investigation on July 28 after receiving a formal complaint.
It’s Quebec and the patron probably ordered in English and thus the treatment....Célébrez la diversité!
Not speaking French, I depend upon my smartphone. Here is how Salmon and Beef translate to French:
le saumon de boeuf
Frenchie is going to be the belle of the ball in jail
Would really suck if not only dealing with the allergic reaction, but a parasitic infection as well.
If one is so allergic that mere micrograms of a substance can kill you, it would be wise to avoid all restaurants that have such an item on the menu. Of course this does not excuse the actions of the waiter or cooks.
You don’t order in a place that can kill you, then eat unknown food in the dark. Jeez!
Also, if the victim was a pest, and the waiter literally too immature to believe the risk was genuine, well, that’s what happened...
Obviously the waiter really didn’t care.
Probably had an Instagram post that took up valuable brain space ...
When I visited Montreal, no one treated me poorly for not speaking French. Maybe they were spitting in my food and laughing behind my back, but seemed like service was friendly everywhere.
I don’t understand how anyone could mistake salmon for steak tartare even in the dark. The patron must have more than allergy problems.
We are (almost) in a Post-Obama era. One trait that will linger for a long time is to see everything through the eyes of a paranoid racist who sees himself as a victim. Meaning, what were the races of the people involved? If the customer was white and the server not white, one may be inclined to see the need to rule out Hate Crime first.
That couldn’t have been a mistake, UNLESS the server did not understand anything the customer requested from the very start. Were that the case, the restaurant is culpable, for not sending a better prepared server to wait on the public.
The color and texture of the two are not even close.
“I wonder if Canada requires sushi grade fish to be commercially frozen (to kill off parasites) down to x-Celsius for y-number of days?”
From what I understand, yes. Given the amount of sushi I’ve eaten here over the years I should be full of parasites by now if it wasn’t.
My nose would know the difference too before it hit my mouth.
I totally agree.
Yes,I have gotten more than a few dirty looks in Quebec when I've asked someone "Parlez-vous Anglais?"
But to be fair a dentist I went to at Harvard Dental School was from France and I once told him how much my parents disliked France.He asked if they had traveled outside Paris and I told him that I didn't think so."Aha,there's the problem" he said."Even we Frenchmen hate Parisians" he said,shaking his head with obvious disgust.
Searched his home?
If the waiter was negligent then how much more negligent was the customer? Doesn’t the customer has some duty to assure he will not be poisoned and that beyond making someone else responsible for his safety?
If I’m that allegeric you can bet I make a final check.
Sorta like “Don’t worry the gun isn’t loaded”. Wanna bet your life on it?
“Tar Tar” ,that scares me ,fish,beef whatever...No thanks.Kah Kah Do Do
Stay home and fix your own grub.
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