BLOODY ‘BEER’ FOOR
3rd ‘exploding Corona’ vic
Another man has come forward claiming he was badly injured by a Corona bottle that suddenly exploded, shooting shards of glass into his leg.
“It’s like they are selling glass hand grenades,” retired California lawyer John Jay Curtis said of the beer-makers, whose parent company, Constellation Brands, is based in upstate Victor, NY.
Curtis, 75, is the third man in recent months to tell The Post that a Corona bottle exploded while he was handling it, causing a bloody injury.
Curtis said he was carrying a 24-bottle case of Corona into his Mission Viejo house Sept. 25, walking toward the door to his kitchen from the garage, 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,” he said.
“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,” Curtis said.
In the ensuing days, the wound “started festering and got red and started hurting,” Curtis said.
“I contacted my primary-care physician, who said, ‘I feel something in there.’ She numbed me up and took a scalpel and found a little shard of glass that was in there.”
Curtis said that at some point, a nurse told him about news articles involving people who were allegedly blinded by exploding Corona bottles.
In July, The Post wrote about barback Gonzalo Luis-Morales, who says he was partially blinded by an exploding Corona bottle while working at a Manhattan bar.
A few weeks later, construction worker Lachtman Ramnanan contacted The Post to say that on Father’s Day a month earlier, a Corona bottle blew up, partly blinding him, too.
Curtis said he contacted Constellation Brands and bottle manufacturer Owens-Illinois, which is incorporated in Delaware, and the companies told him they would inspect what was left of the Corona bottles from the case he bought.
Either way, he said he plans to sue over his injury.
“What the hell did Corona do to solve this” after the other two men reported being injured? Curtis asked, adding that Corona should issue a recall to prevent more people from being injured.
Constellation Brands vowed to investigate.
“We take any claims related to consumer safety, health and well-being seriously,” spokesman Michael McGrew said. “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.”
Owens-Illinois did not return a request for comment.
John Danzi, a lawyer for LuisMorales and Ramnanan, said, “Mr. Curtis is another victim of Constellation and their refusal to modify their manufacturing process.”