Olive Garden serves rum to ten-year-old - 13 WTHR Indianapolis

The 86th Street Olive Garden in Indianapolis is a family restaurant. But what happened to a family Thursday evening cost a waitress her job.

She accidentally served a ten-year-old boy rum in a four-ounce glass, and the child reportedly drank half of it.

Indiana University Hospital Pediatrician Dr. Michael McKenna says alcohol can have adverse effects on children.

"Just like adults will have; they'll feel sick to their stomach, they'll be throwing up. They can have headaches and feeling of general malaise. The same thing would happen to children just at a lower amount of alcohol being given," said Dr. McKenna.

The boy's mother took her son to the St. Vincent emergency room, where she was put on alert to watch out for nausea, headaches and drowsiness.

Dr. McKenna says children should never consume alcohol in any amount. The pediatrician went a step further, saying, "There is no reason for children to get alcohol, ever."

When Channel 13 spoke to the manager at the Olive Garden, he referred us to the corporate office. Within minutes a Olive Garden media representative called WTHR and followed up with a email statement which reads, "We find this situation completely unacceptable and we are extremely upset that this occurred. We have a zero tolerance policy for any violation of our responsible alcohol service policy, and the employee who served the wrong drink has been terminated."

The restaurant has new protocols in place to make sure this never happens again. The company is relieved that the ten-year-old in this case is going to be okay.

The restaurant manager picked up the dinner tab for the boy's family. The mother told us they also received a $70 certificate for their next visit.

The boy stayed home from school Friday.  His mother believes he is recovering from the alcohol consumption.