John Jefferson
Background: Abbi Hance-Briscoe (WFAA). Inset: The “Flaming Pineapple” drink at Twisted Trick (WFAA).
A Texas couple never thought their summertime date would end with a trip to the local burn unit — and now they’re suing the bar that they say left them horrifically scarred.
Abigael “Abbi” Hance-Briscoe and Dustin “Dutty” Johnson visited the Twisted Trick bar in August and told local ABC affiliate WFAA in an interview that they wanted to support the new venue. They each ordered drinks, and when Johnson’s “Flaming Pineapple” arrived, he saw that there was a lime garnish at the top of the glass — and it was on fire.
He told WFAA that “[w]e’ve been to Tiki bars before, and so when it came out, I understood what was going to happen. They would do a little show, like a flash of fire, and then I’d drink it. I was like, oh, cute. Cool. It’s on fire.”
Dustin “Dutty” Johnson and Abigael “Abbi” Hance-Briscoe (GoFundMe)
Johnson said that the bartender offered to add more Everclear liquor to the combustible drink. After the extra pour, the bartender reportedly fired up the bar torch and the “drink ignited, shattering the drink glass, and spreading the fire onto Abigael and Dustin,” according to the lawsuit.
As he told WFAA, Johnson said that he ran out of the bar while “his shirt, face, arms, beard, and chest hair on fire,” as WFAA wrote. He then claimed that he witnessed his girlfriend “rolling on the ground” to put out the flames that had engulfed her before someone finally threw water on her. She recalled to WFAA that she saw her “skin was falling off of my arm, and they had to cut my bra off because it was melted into my skin.”
When she woke up at Parkland Hospital’s burn unit, she said she “was burned up to my cheeks. My ear was burned on my left side. They had to shave one side of my head in the hospital because there was concern about injury to my scalp.”
Johnson’s burns were less severe, but still bad enough to keep him hospitalized for several days. Hance-Briscoe spent seven weeks in the hospital, during which time she underwent multiple skin grafts and developed sepsis. She now faces physical therapy and reconstructive surgery, and she uses a walker as a result of the sepsis.
The lawsuit alleges that the bar failed to properly train its employees “on the dangers of flaming drinks” and failed to “safely serve” the couple.
The pair have been updating the public on their condition on a GoFundMe page they set up to get help with their medical bills, which are estimated to exceed $20,000.
Twisted Trick closed permanently after the incident. Attorneys for the bar’s former owners denied the claims made by Hance-Briscoe and Johnson in their lawsuit.
The bar has denied the allegations, and calling the incident “pure accident” and saying that the couple didn’t take proper precautions before taking the drink.
“Plaintiffs’ alleged damages, if any, were caused or aggravated by Plaintiffs’ failure to use reasonable diligence to mitigate them,” the bar’s response to the lawsuit says.
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