The North Carolina man who found a finger in his gourmet ice cream refused to return it even though it possibly could have been reattached to the hand of the employee who lost it. (Previous post here.) Apparently, Clarence Stowers discovered the digit in his to-go container just 30 minutes after the finger was severed by a custard mixing machine. Stoewers' attorney told the Associated Press that he kept the finger to test it for "all the diseases that are out here now." Kohl's Frozen Custard has posted their side of the story on their Web site:
The injured employee was immediately sent to the hospital less than 2 miles away.
The General Manager then went to the serving counter to have the machine shut down, begin the sanitizing procedures and remove the affected bucket of custard. In the few moments between the time the employee's finger was severed and the General Manager's response, a drive-thru employee who was unaware of the accident, packed the only custard served from that machine after the injury into a pint container. Without the General Manager's knowledge, it was then sold at the drive thru.
The physician who was attending to the injured employee at the hospital requested that the General Manager retrieve the fingertip for possible reattachment. The fingertip could not be located. Approximately 30 minutes later, the customer who purchased the pint, returned to the inside of the store and displayed the fingertip to the General Manager. The General Manager attempted to retrieve it and rush it to the hospital. Unfortunately, the customer refused to give it to her and declared that he would be calling the TV stations and an attorney as he exited the store.