Troy Hankins slipped and fell in front of his daughter’s house Tuesday night due to a grease leak originating at the Sonic drive-in at Ayers and Norton in Chorpus Christi, Texas. The shocking fact is that his daughter is four houses down the street from the Sonic drive-in.
Luckily, Hankins only suffered a sore shoulder from the fall. Sonic manager Raul Contreras provided Hankins with a free meal coupon for his trouble. The grease leak apparently was coming from the grease tank behind the Sonic, and actually had a trough dug from the tank to the street. The leak was caused when the tank overflowed.
Contreras denied any knowledge of the grease leak, or the trough channeling the grease to the street. The grease tank is normally supposed to be emptied about 2-3 times a month according to Contreras.
According to Danielle Converse with the city Storm Water department , Sonic was given a 5pm deadline to clean up the mess. If Sonic failed to resolve the matter in time, they would be fined $2000 a day until the cleanup was completed.
Converse explained that everything which drains into the storm water system goes directly to the receiving water supply, which is not treated. This process is separate from waste water treatment, but we can clearly see how it could affect the water supply.
The General Manager of Sonic, Rhonda Brown and manager Contreras wasted no time on dealing with the issue. They employed a power washing business and even used kitty litter in their clean up efforts. Contreras did claim responsibility for the grease leak though.
He explained that since the grease leak was coming from their dumpster it was their job to clean up the mess. In addition to their clean up efforts, Contreras also had the overflowing grease tank emptied as well.
The driver for the grease disposal service did tell reporters that Sonic shouldn’t have been putting anything in the tank as it was already full.