McDonald’s Has Fired Mother Accused of Leaving Her Daughter Unsupervised at Playground, Lawyer Says

harrellDebra Harrell, the South Carolina woman who was arrested after her 9-year-old daughter was found playing alone outside while she was at work, has been fired from her job at McDonald’s, her lawyer said Tuesday.

“She is currently unemployed,” Harrell’s attorney Robert Phillips told The Huffington Post, adding that he didn’t know why she was let go from her job.

But in an emailed statement to HuffPost, McDonald’s spokeswoman Lisa McComb said Harrell has not been fired.

“It would not be appropriate to discuss an employment matter in the media, but I can confirm that this employee has not been terminated,” McComb wrote on behalf of the owner of the McDonald’s location where Harrell worked.

Harrell was arrested earlier this month after her daughter told a witness at a playground that she was there unsupervised while her mom was working at a nearby McDonald’s. Harrell was charged with unlawful neglect of a child, a felony. Her arrest stoked controversy, with local news coverage portraying Harrell as a neglectful mother and a variety of news outlets and blogs suggesting her arrest was unwarranted.

Read the full story at huffingtonpost.com

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