Video Of Woman Drinking Poison Tea Laced With Lye At Dickey’s Barbecue Pit Now Released

In August, a 67-year-old woman was placed in critical condition after drinking a tea accidentally laced with lye at a Dickey’s Barbecue Pit in South Jordan, Utah. Now, for the first time ever, the video footage of Jan Harding’s harrowing experience has been released to the public. In the footage, we can see Harding spitting out her drink after the first sip. But, unfortunately, one sip was all it took to send Harding to the hospital for two weeks.

Harding was treated at the hospital for esophageal burns she sustained after drinking the beverage, the NY Daily News reported. Authorities believe that a fault in the self-serve drinking station machinery had caused Harding to be served the poisonous sweet tea. Lye is an odorless and highly toxic chemical that can be found in everything from restaurant deep fryers to drain cleaners. Tom Richmond, a professor of chemistry at the University of Utah, told ABC News that, if digested, the chemical could potentially dissolve a person’s insides, Medical Daily reported.

In the footage, we can see Harding immediately sip out her drink and proceed to bend over in obvious discomfort. “You can almost see the panic on her face, too, like she doesn't know what's going on," explained Harding’s attorney Paxton Guymon, in reference to the video footage. What makes the incident so unsettling is the fact that it is not isolated.

According to the Daily News, five weeks prior to this incident an employee received a similar chemical burn. Harding and her attorney are now working to make sure accidents like this do not happen again.

| ABC Entertainment News