Debra Harrell, the North Augusta, SC mother who was arrested for letting her 9-year-old daughter play in a park unsupervised, has suffered another injustice: The local ABC News affiliate covering her story posted her personal information on the internet.
As previously covered, Harrell was working at a McDonald’s when she let her child play in a park nearby.
WJBF News Channel 6 obtained the police video from the interrogation room (video at the link), recorded June 30th, when Harrell was arrested. The cop asked Harrell about leaving her daughter in the park unsupervised, and she explained the situation:
Harrell said, “She was meeting her friends in the park this morning. They were supposed to all met up there today and left the park and went back to their house. So, I guess they didn’t come or anything, but she was supposed to be with her friend.”
Sergeant asked, “Did you drop her off at the park?”
Harrell said, “Yes at 9 o’clock.”
Sergeant asked, “Was her friend there at the time?”
Harrell replied, “No. She said she was on her way.”
Harrell then explains her friend told her to just leave her daughter at the park and she would pick her up. Saying they do it all the time.
Sergeant asked, “So you leave her at the park unsupervised?”
“Yeah, but I thought, you know, everybody’s there. You know, I didn’t feel like that I needed to be up there, sitting up there with her,” Harrell replied.
Later, the cop got patronizing and mansplain-y with Harrell:
Sergeant asked, “You’re her mother right?”
Harrell answered, “Yes sir.”
Sergeant asked, “You understand that you’re in charge of that child’s well-being?”
Harrell replied, “Yes sir.”
Sergeant said, “That’s not other people’s job to do so.”
Harrell said, “Yes sir.”
Meanwhile, according to a reader, when WJBF News Channel 6 posted the interrogation session to their website, they posted the entire video clip — which included all of Harrell’s personal information. Home address. Social Security number. The reader notes:
It was publicly available on their website and linked via Facebook for at least an hour before they clipped it to exclude the personal info.
Hasn’t this woman been through enough?
The channel’s Facebook page had a smattering of comments chiding them for posting Harrell’s personal information; they have since edited the video. Harrell’s address and phone number are no longer up, but all of that stuff was public for about an hour.
By the way, during the interrogation, Harrell makes it clear that she felt playing in the park would be entertaining and safe alternative for her daughter, since their home had been broken into and there’s no TV. Sounds like there’s some other crime going on in North Augusta that the police should look into.
Image via WJBF.