American tourist dies after drinking tainted booze at luxury Mexican resort: Family

A Wisconsin woman on vacation in Mexico died after ingesting a tainted alcoholic drink, her family claims in a new lawsuit.

According to the New York Post, 20-year-old Pewaukee resident Abbey Conner was staying at a luxury all-inclusive resort in Playa Del Carmen last year with her brother, Aaron, when they were reportedly given a shot of unidentified liquor.

Her 22-year-old sibling reportedly found himself inside of an ambulance when he regained consciousness, but could not tell authorities what happened.

As local officials told their parents, Abbey was discovered in the Iberostar Paraiso Del Mar resort’s pool, floating face down and unresponsive.

Witnesses at the hotel reportedly contacted emergency personnel to report two individuals who seemed to be drowning in the water.

While Aaron ultimately recovered, Abbey’s family said the hospital she was transported to refused to transfer her to a more appropriate facility until it received a $10,000 deposit and $6,300 in related medical bills.

By the time an air ambulance was able to transport her to a Florida hospital, medical staff described her as brain dead. Her death was initially blamed on an accidental drowning, but loved ones say that wasn’t the case.

Instead, they filed a wrongful death suit claiming the resort was aware of possibly deleterious effects of serving alcohol the complainants say was “unfit for human consumption.”

In August of 2017, about seven months after Abbey’s death, Mexican officials reportedly raided an alcohol manufacturer and took about 10,000 gallons of product.

That company allegedly supplied the alcohol to the bar where the siblings drank during their trip, though representatives deny their alcohol was unsafe.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel conducted an investigation into the claims and found at least 200 separate complaints from travelers who say they believe they were victims of similarly unsafe alcohol.

The family’s lawyer, Gary Davidson, said it doesn’t make sense that the siblings would have lost consciousness after drinking just a small amount of alcohol.

“Clearly there is a fundamental problem, or there was at the time when Abbey died, as a result of having consumed this concoction, whatever it was, which was portrayed as normal alcohol, which it was not,” he said.

A bar visited by the Conners during the fateful trip and a Cancun restaurant were closed as a result of unsafe alcohol found on the premises.

[Featured image: Abbey Conner, Facebook]