Gas From McDonald’s Soda Fountain Caused Death

Police say leaking carbon dioxide gas is to blame for the death of an 80-year-woman who passed out in a restroom at a McDonald’s restaurant in Georgia. Pooler Police Chief Mark Revenew said yesterday that investigators found carbon dioxide used to inject carbonation into the restaurant’s soda fountain had been leaking between the walls and into the restroom, where two women were found unconscious September 7th. The gas is normally harmless. But authorities say enough had escaped that it displaced air the women needed to breathe. Several people at the restaurant needed medical treatment. One of them, Anne Felton of Ponte Vedra, Florida, later died at a hospital. Revenew says owners of the restaurant replaced the gas lines and he does not expect to press charges.