A Michigan professor says he temporarily lost custody of his son after lemonade he bought for him at a ballpark turned out to contain alcohol.
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Christopher Ratte of Ann Arbor, a tenured professor of classical archaeology at the University of Michigan, said he doesn't watch much television, so he did not recognize that the Mike's Hard Lemonade he purchased for his 7-year-old son during a Detroit Tigers game at Comerica Park contained alcohol, the Detroit Free Press reported Monday.
"I'd never drunk it, never purchased it, never heard of it," Ratte said. "And it's certainly not what I expected when I ordered a lemonade for my 7-year-old."
A security guard who noticed the bottle in the child's clutches referred the matter to police, who interviewed Ratte while his son was being examined at Children's Hospital. Less than 90 minutes after Ratte was confronted by the security guard, doctors determined the boy had no alcohol in his blood. However, Ratte said the police officer told him her supervisor was requiring her to contact Child Protective Services.
The professor said it was two days before his wife was able to take the boy home from foster care and nearly a week before he was allowed by the court to move back him with his wife and son.
Ratte said he and his wife have filed a formal complaint with the CPS ombudsman's office.