The Chopt Creative Salad Co. is being sued by a Connecticut woman who says she was served a human finger along with her New York lunch.
Allison Cozzi ordered a salad on April 7 at Chopt’s Mount Kisco location in New York, according to The Gateway Pundit.
“Shortly after [the] plaintiff purchased the salad, while she was eating the salad, she realized that she was chewing on a portion of a human finger that had been mixed in, and made a part of, the salad,” the lawsuit, filed on Monday in Westchester County Supreme Court, alleges.
According to the filing, it was discovered that “earlier in the day an employee working at the aforementioned Chopt Creative Salad Company restaurant was chopping arugula and chopped off, or cut off, a portion of her left pointer finger,” according to the New York Post.
NY woman sues Chopt restaurants after finding severed finger in salad https://t.co/oM7t310gwl pic.twitter.com/JNAITBIu7D
— New York Post (@nypost) November 29, 2023
While the clumsy employee — a manager at the restaurant — was rushed to a local hospital, the severed finger was left behind “with the partial digit ultimately finding its way into Cozzi’s salad and eventually her mouth,” The Post reports.
The suit accuses the restaurant and its employees of being “reckless, careless and negligent,” according to NBC News.
Both Chopt and its parent company, Founders Table Restaurant Group, were named in the lawsuit.
Cozzi has suffered “severe and serious personal injuries, including shock, panic attacks, migraine and the exacerbation of migraine, cognitive impairment, traumatic stress and anxiety, nausea, vomiting, dizziness, and neck and shoulder pain,” the lawsuit states.
Chopt was later slapped with a ticket from the Westchester County Department of Health for violating state rules that are meant to prevent imminent health hazards, the lawsuit notes, and the restaurant didn’t contest the claim.
Cozzi’s attorney, Marc Reibman, said his client doesn’t want to discuss the incident with the media.
“She does not want to increase the stress and anxiety that this incident has caused her,” he told NBC News via email. “As a matter of common sense and public interest, the failure to supervise the preparation and service of food in a manner that protects the public is a blatant deviation from accepted safe practice and deserves significant compensation.”
The lawsuit does not specifically state how much money she is seeking.
“My client has instructed me that she does not want any publicity,” Reibman told The Post. “She is fearful that publicity will exacerbate her stress and anxiety levels.”
Online, the revolting incident has fueled a string of predictable puns, many of which were centered on the restaurant’s name.
Name checks out
— Jack (@jrsdevil) November 29, 2023
It’s not named chopt for nothing.
— Rhonda; Online Diary; Thinspo; Attitude is Key! (@rhondaleeindc) November 29, 2023
Everybody loves chopt til they go and chop some shit
— SCROTAL RECALL (Pissinger Tombstone) (@the_oysterdog) November 29, 2023
And one user employed a string of emojis in response to the story.
“Chopt – Finger,” the user wrote. “Breathe.”
Chopt – Finger
Breathe— Memes R Us 2 (@Memes4allofus) November 29, 2023
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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