Walmart Fires Employee Who Filmed Shivering Toddler In 20 Degree Weather

 A woman said a Mississippi Walmart fired her for posting video of a toddler wearing only a diaper in the store on a 20-degree morning earlier this month.

Felecia Darling told WLBT-TV she began recording after the boy’s mother entered the Byram store and put him in a cold shopping basket only wearing a diaper. The station in a previous story said the incident occurred at 10:30 a.m. Jan. 17.

Darling added to WLBT that she took off her black coat and put it on the toddler after several shoppers approached the boy’s mother.

“You’re a mother, a child represents you,” Darling noted to the station. “And if you come in the store fully clothed, and your son is not, that shows a lot about your character and that shows a lot that you don’t care. How could you come in Walmart fully dressed knowing it’s a lot of people watching you? She probably thought nobody was going to step up, but, you know, we did.”

Video shows the mother tossing a bag of frozen items just in front of the toddler, who was seated in the main part of the cart.

Amid an argument with a shopper over the toddler, the New York Post reported that the mother “delivered a vulgar rant, pausing only to twerk briefly for the camera.”

Police charged the mother, Kambria Darby, with child neglect, WLBT noted, adding that she was booked and processed at the Hinds County Detention Center on bond conditions the county Youth Court ordered.

The station also reported that Child Protective Services got involved and later released the toddler to an approved relative.

A GoFundMe to help cover Darling’s monthly expenses while she’s out of work has reached $40,700 as of Monday.

Atlanta Black Star said it reached out to Walmart multiple times for comment.

The Post said another video Darling posted that is no longer live shows a shopper dressing the toddler in clothes from the store while the mother stands nearby scrolling on her phone.

The paper added that police spoke to Darby outside and learned about shoppers dressed the still-shivering child inside the store.

EMS personnel checked the toddler before Child Protection Services arrived, the Post noted.

Darby after her release from jail got on social media and defended herself, the paper said, citing a Facebook post the Daily Mail said it viewed: “They did Jesus the same way, he felt sick to his stomach as well; he didn’t want to go through it.”

According to the Post, the mother of three said she hasn’t seen her children since the Walmart incident: “I know this too shall pass. I know one day me and my kids will be reunited.”

Walmart employee fired for helping kid at store pic.twitter.com/5maDUfChOj

— HOT SPOT (@HotSpotHotSpot) January 24, 2024