After a video of an underdressed toddler in Walmart went viral, an employee reportedly lost her job, and the toddler’s mother lost her child. The alleged incident went down in a Byram, Mississippi, store around 10:30 a.m. on January 17. The weather was freezing that day, and Kambria Gabrielle Darby, 26, allegedly brought her son into the store wearing nothing but a diaper, alarming shoppers and employees.
Felicia Darling, who was working at Walmart that day, recorded Darby and her son as they shopped in the frozen food section. She posted the video to social media, where it went viral. She has since deleted her Facebook account, but the video is still available on TikTok. Police arrived at the store and arrested Darby, according to WJTV. Walmart allegedly fired Darling for posting footage of the incident, and she thinks that is totally unfair.
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The child allegedly came into the store wearing no clothing.
The child had on only a diaper when Darling and others inside the Walmart store spotted him. according to WJTV. A now-viral video of Darby and the child shows the young boy sitting in the cart as his mother throws frozen food into it on top of him. Darling and another man confront Darby, dressed warmly for the weather, and she becomes combative.
“She’s throwing cold food on this child. What’s wrong with you?” a man asks.
“Lower your voice. Who are you?” Darby asks the man before walking off.
Darling says she’s going to call the police.
The concerned employee told the mother of three she would call the police, but Darby didn’t seem fazed. She continued to push the little boy around in the cart while cursing and making vulgar twerking moves. The heartbreaking video shows the innocent child sitting quietly as his mother continues to misbehave.
A kind shopper steps in to help.
In a second video posted by Darling, a female shopper on a riding cart comes over with clothes from inside the store and dresses the child. The footage captures Darby standing nearby, not offering to help. Instead, she watches the woman care for her child and scrolls on her phone until the shopper is finished.
At some point, Darby leaves the store with the little boy and is met by police in the parking lot, where she was arrested on a charge of child neglect, WJTV reported. Her son was given to an approved adult for care.
The video allegedly led to Darling’s termination.
According to a GoFundMe account, Darling claims a manager at Walmart fired her for posting a video of the incident on social media.
“I lost my job on 1/20/2024 by helping a child who were being neglected by his own mother. On 1/17/2024 a young lady came in Wal-Mart with her child & the child only had on a Diaper!!!! And it’s like 20 something degrees or it was in the teens I really cant remember, But the child had on no clothes, no socks, nor shoes, and I took it upon myself to record it for the child sake," she wrote on the page. "No I wasn’t thinking about the consequences at the time, At that time my main focus was on that innocent poor child, and to get him some help. Yes I posted the video on my facebook page bc I wanted to reach out to some of her family members, and case workers.”
She added that an HR manager asked her to take it down, which she did right away, but she still ended up jobless. With nearly 2,000 donors, she has greatly surpassed her original goal of $5,000, raising more than $40,000 thus far.
“You did the right thing! As a former teacher I would have done the same thing. Shame on Walmart!" one donor wrote. "You are a good person who showed concern for an innocent child. I hope everything works out for you. Thank you for caring.❤️”
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Darby took to social media to tell her side of the story.
The disgraced mother posted about the alleged incident on TikTok and said Darling didn’t help with anything. She says she just made the situation worse. Darby posted a nine-minute rant and said, “My biggest thing right now, though, is the false allegations that are out there about me. I’m not a bad momma; I’ve never been a bad momma.”
She added that she misses her kids and said the situation has caused her physical and emotional distress. Text on the video claims she plans to post a GoFundMe account of her own to raise money for her children’s expenses.
