Scary moment mother drank iced tea that nearly killed her [VIDEO]
This shocking surveillance video shows the moment a 67-year-old Utah mother of three unknowingly took a sip of poisonous tea that nearly killed her.
In the Aug. 10 recording, Jan Harding, 67, is seen drinking a cup of sweet iced tea poured from the self-service machine at Dickey's Barbecue in South Jordan, Fox13 reports.
Police say that beverage was accidentally laced with lye, a highly toxic cleaning chemical used to degrease deep fryers. After just one sip, Harding nearly died from severe chemical burns to her mouth, throat and esophagus.
"When you watch the footage, you can see that as soon as she takes a sip, immediately, she knew something was wrong," Harding's attorney, Paxton Guymon told FOX6's sister station FOX13 in Salt Lake City.
Earlier surveillance footage shows a Dickey's employee scooping the chemical, which he thought was sugar, into a bucket to be mixed with the sweet tea.
Harding was the first person to drink the tea that day, and therefore, the only victim. She and her family plan to enter mediation with the restaurant later this year, rather than file charges.
Harding and her family have decided not to file charges against the restaurant, the Associated Press reported.
Today, Harding is recovering. She's able to speak, though her sense of taste has not fully returned.
"We certainly found mishaps that happened between various parties, but that is not criminal behavior," said District Attorney Sim Gill.
"We were looking at what happened," Gill said. "What did people know? When did they know it? What was the extent of their knowledge and what sort of risks did they engage in with the knowledge that was available to them?"
