Mom Put in Jail For Letting 9-Year-Old Play in Park Alone

A South Carolina mother was arrested for letting her 9-year-old daughter play in a local park while she worked at a nearby McDonalds.

Debra Harrell brought her daughter to work for most of the summer. When her daughter asked if she could play outside instead, Harrell agreed and gave her a cellphone in case of an emergency.

On the girl’s third day in the park she was asked where her mother was. The girl replied that her mother was at work. Harrell was then arrested for “unlawful conduct toward a child” and thrown in jail while her daughter was put into state custody, according to a local media channel.

Locals expressed concern in an interview that Harrell’s daughter could have been harmed or kidnapped, though Reason claims this possibility was “exceedingly unlikely” citing the Christian Science Monitor’s finding that the crime rate today is at the lowest point it’s been since 1963.