Toddler is badly burned by pizza from Little Caesars: 'This piercing scream came from my baby girl'
A 2-year-old girl was treated for second-degree burns after getting scalded by a hot slice of Little Caesars pizza.
On Friday night, Koddi and Wade Dunn of Cornelia, Ga., were driving home from visiting their children’s grandmother when they stopped at a Little Caesars location in Lawrenceville to buy dinner for their two sons, ages 15 and 9. The family placed their usual drive-through order, a Hot-N-Ready pepperoni pizza, cooked at 550 degrees (as explained by the company in a 2013 Facebook post).
After paying for their food, Koddi Dunn passed the box to her sons in the back seat, warning them to be careful. However, when one of the boys lifted a slice, a glob of piping-hot sauce and cheese fell on his little sister, Jordyn, who was sitting next to him in her car seat.
Posted by Koddi Lester-Dunn on Friday, October 12, 2018
“Suddenly, this piercing scream came from my baby girl,” Dunn, 40, tells Yahoo Lifestyle. She dove into the back seat while her husband pulled over to the side of the road. Seeing the skin on Jordyn’s hand blistering from the heat, they drove to Gwinnett Medical Center, where she was treated for second-degree burns.
Dunn called the restaurant and says she was told that after Hot-N-Ready pizzas are removed from the oven, they’re placed in 160-degree warmers. “But the employee said they were ‘really backed up’ that night, so customers were handed pizza straight from the oven,” she tells Yahoo Lifestyle. “Our pizza was not ready to be eaten — it was falling apart to the touch.” Dunn says a simple warning from the employee could have prevented her daughter’s injuries.
Jordyn’s wounds were cleaned and medicated, and her arm was bandaged. The family spent about $1,000 in urgent-care fees and expects to incur more costs for future treatments at a local burn center.
Tina Orozco, the director of communications for Little Ceasars, sent the following statement to Yahoo Lifestyle: “The safety of our customers and employees is our highest priority. We are aware of this unfortunate incident. Our hearts go out to Jordyn and her family and we wish her a speedy recovery. We are continuing to work with the customer and the franchisee of this store. At this time, we believe that all procedures were followed. As a precaution, we have a warning label on our pizza boxes. Our customers expect to receive fresh, hot pizza out of the oven.”
Dunn says that a manager left her a voicemail Monday night. “There was no apology or compassion for what happened to my daughter — my family is traumatized,” she says. “We change Jordyn’s bandages twice a day and she screams. We try to distract her by pretending the medical tape is fingernails and playing her favorite movie, Annie.”
Read more from Yahoo Lifestyle:
Mom spreads warning of ‘Deodorant Challenge’ after daughter is severely burned
Teen sues McDonald’s for $1.56 million after allegedly getting scalded by a cup of hot water
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