7yo in Foster Care after Dad “Mistakenly” Buys Him Booze at Ballgame

Father claims he “didn’t know” Mike’s Hard Lemonade was alcoholic

7 year-old Leo Ratte was taken from his parents custody after his father “mistakenly” purchased a Mike’s Hard Lemonade for him to drink at a Tiger’s game. A Comerica Park security guard noticed the bottle in young Leo’s hand and notified police after confronting the father.

The father, Christopher Ratte - 47 years-old and a tenured professor of classical archaeology at the University of Michigan - said that he did not know the drink was alcoholic when he purchased it for his son. “I’d never drunk it, never purchased it, never heard of it,” Ratte told reporters. “And it’s certainly not what I expected when I ordered a lemonade for my 7-year-old.”

The Comerica security guard estimated that Leo had drunk about 12 ounces of the Mike’s Hard Lemonade, which is 5% alcohol. Leo was taken, by ambulance, to nearby Children’s Hospital where, 90 minutes later, an ER physician performed a blood test that found his BAC to be normal.

The kid was discharged, but it would be two days before the state of Michigan allowed Ratte’s wife, U-M architecture professor Claire Zimmerman, to take their son home, and nearly a week before Ratte was permitted to move back into his own house.

What do you think?

Should the Michigan cops have cut Ratte a break? Or should he have known that Mike’s Hard Lemonade was alcoholic?

Related stuff:

1. Booze Test: Know Your Booze
Think you know all the facts about booze? How it's made? Where it's from? What the name means? (hint: Jagermeister means something...) Test your knowledge with the Booze Test...
2. Booze Tubes - For the Alcoholic on the Go
So, need to find a way to sneak booze with you where ever you are going? If a flask is way too obvious, then try the new GO Wodka. These little beauties come in 7 different...
3. Decision 08: Which Candidate Would You Party With?
When deciding on whom to vote for, we suggest that you should think about whom you would most like to drink/party with out of all the contenders. With a woman, a black man, a...