For the third time in the span of a few months, another person has reported that they were badly injured by flying glass as the result of a bottle of Corona beer exploding in their vicinity.
This time, the apparent victim was a 75-year-old retired California lawyer named John Jay Curtis, who says a Corona bottle exploded while he was carrying a 24-bottle case of the beer into his home. He was simply walking along when “there was an explosion like someone shot off a grenade.”
“All of a sudden, I’m in abject pain and thrown back on the ground. My right leg is all cut and bleeding profusely,” Curtis said to the NY Post. “I passed out and lost consciousness for maybe 20 seconds and just bled everywhere, and then I come to, and I scream for my partner to come out and help me, and he did, and he started picking out the glass. It took us 20 minutes to stop the bleeding and get the glass out.”
The injury eventually landed Curtis as the doctor’s office, where physicians plucked out lingering bits of glass from the man, who says Corona might as well be selling “glass hand grenades.” It was at the doctor’s office that Curtis learned about several other recent incidents that reportedly also involved exploding Corona bottles, including two men who both say they were partially blinded in separate incidents by glass that shot into their eyes.
Assuming that each injury was indeed caused by exploding Corona bottles, it’s not immediately clear if the cause of the exploding bottles would be something on the brewing side, such as unfinished fermentations, or defects in the bottles themselves, which are manufactured by Owens-Illinois, which is incorporated in Delaware. Corona, meanwhile, is owned under the umbrella of Constellation Brands.
Regardless, Curtis told the NY Post that he plans to sue over his injury, and being a former lawyer we can only assume that he understands exactly what he’s doing.
“What the hell did Corona do to solve this?” he said, referring to the other men who were reportedly injured.
Constellation Brands spokesman Michael McGrew responded with the following: “We take any claims related to consumer safety, health and well-being seriously. I can say unequivocally that we conduct rigorous testing throughout our production process, and our bottles are designed and tested to maintain their integrity. We will investigate the matter and remain committed to ensuring that our products continue to meet our high quality standards.”
We’ll bring you updates on this case as more details are released publicly.