Grease Is The Word

Nightmare Scenarios: 5-Year-Old Girl Falls Into Sonic Grease Pit

Reminder: Grease is for food, not customers.
Reminder: Grease is for food, not customers. Photo: Just Stephens via Flickr

She’ll probably grow up to be a vegan: A 5-year-old girl in Clarksville, Tennessee, is too traumatized to even pass by a Sonic Drive-In, her parents claim, after the child took a major spill into one of the chain’s grease pits. Lily Clark was leaving the restaurant with her family in late April when she stumbled into a vat of grease positioned just feet from Sonic’s patio, which was obscured by landscaping. Normally guarded by a cover with a “Warning” sign, the barrier was dislodged when Lily fell, plunking her into the spent cooking grease.

The girl’s dad tells Greenville Online that Lily was practically invisible under so much grease, but he was fortunately able to save his daughter when her hands shot up from the oily deep (no doubt to be the most dramatic scene in Grease Girl, the made-for-TV movie we’re pitching).

Fortunately, the tike was physically unscathed after being rushed to the ER. That is, save for her poor lil’ impressionable soul, as Lily’s mother is still concerned about the lingering psychological effects of the accident on her “typically outgoing” child. All of which means, yep, the family is considering legal action against the restaurant, setting the stage for yet another terrifying food-industry settlement.

Of course, Sonic is apologizing up and down for the mishap and currently reviewing its safety practices to ensure that no more customers end up taking accidental grease baths. Everyone else should probably just take this as a reminder to stick to the chain’s drive-in going forward.

Child falls into fast-food grease pit at restaurant [GO]

Nightmare Scenarios: 5-Year-Old Girl Falls Into Sonic Grease Pit