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Boy claims he found glass in McDonald's frozen treat

The solid he bit in his McFlurry wasn't an M&M, say he and his grandmother.

By STEVE THOMPSON
Published December 31, 2005

HUDSON - A few blocks from McDonald's, 12-year-old John Hayhurst rode in the car eating the M&M McFlurry his grandmother bought him.

As he ate the vanilla ice cream dessert, his grandmother later told authorities, the boy bit something hard, too hard to be an M&M.

He yelled out, his grandmother said, and pulled the object from his mouth.

It was a piece of broken glass "approximately the size of a finger nail," according to a Pasco County sheriff's report.

His grandparents turned the car around Thursday night and headed back to McDonald's. A manager looked through the boy's McFlurry and searched inside the restaurant, but found no more broken glass.

John and his 10-year-old brother, who live in Seffner, had been visiting their grandparents in Spring Hill. After the incident, his grandmother, Irma Hayhurst, called his mother, who is a dental assistant. His mother called the Sheriff's Office.

Reached Friday, Tammy Hayhurst said her son was still upset and his teeth still hurt. She was trying to get him a dentist appointment.

"I'm not too happy that I have to pay for this out of pocket," she said. "I'm aggravated."

Bob Brickman, who owns the McDonald's at 9441 State Road 52, said in an e-mail Friday that customer safety is his top priority, but that he would not comment much further.

"We take pride in our restaurants," he wrote, "and strongly caution anyone from drawing conclusions without the facts."

Thursday night's incident marks at least the second time sheriff's deputies have investigated glass in food from that McDonald's.

On May 23, 2004, former Pasco sheriff's Deputy Ken Simonson told investigators he stopped by the McDonald's after a shift at the county jail. As he was driving away, he said, he "gulped" down a bite of the burger and felt scratching as it went down his throat. Simonson said inside the burger he found a nickel-sized piece of glass.

The allegation sent other deputies combing through bags of garbage, but they found no more glass. Deputies interviewed sandwich makers who insisted they knew nothing about it. A detective got a restaurant surveillance tape. It showed no sign of sabotage.

About a week later, sheriff's officials announced they had found the culprit: Simonson himself. He had admitted to putting the glass in his cheeseburger and making up the story, sheriff's officials said. They offered no motive for the deceit, except to say he was facing personal problems.

Simonson was arrested on a misdemeanor charge of making false reports to law enforcement. He no longer works for the Sheriff's Office.

[Last modified December 31, 2005, 00:47:16]