Dad arrested for leaving 3 kids alone at McDonald’s for job interview. The internet's coming to his defense

Most parents go above and beyond and try to do what is best for their children, but that might not always align with general perception. A 24-year-old dad, Chris Louis, faced a similar situation when he was arrested for leaving his kids at a McDonald's. He had to go for a job interview at a nearby restaurant. He was charged with deprivation of a minor for leaving his three kids unattended at the indoor playground at the restaurant, according to The Augusta Press. So the internet came to his rescue and asked the authorities to release him.

Louis was arrested after some people noticed the kids had been left alone at the McDonald's, located at Washington Road in Augusta, and contacted the authorities. The children were aged 10, 6 and 1. A responding deputy officer showed up at the place and found that the children were indeed by themselves. Louis was seen with his kids around 4:30 PM before he left them. He returned to the place and left once again before he was detained by the police at around 6:18 PM when he came back for his kids. The dad and the kids had walked to McDonald's from their apartment and Louis didn't want them to walk back on their own. The family didn't have a vehicle either. The kids' mom arrived to pick them up after Louis was taken into custody.

Louis' arrest has gained widespread attention, as former NFL player Antonio Brown shared his story online with his followers, as reported by WTRF. Brown started a GoFundMe campaign and will be donating $1000, per his X post. He further added, "A dad just trying to find a way to make money for his family. I know he shouldn't just leave his kids, but some people don’t have the means for babysitting, etc." Moreover, Brown started the campaign with the aim of raising $50k. However, as of now, it has garnered over $75k and counting.

Louis' incident undoubtedly sparked debate, with many people coming to his support, while some criticized him for leaving the kids without a supervisor. Similarly, Payton Alexander, a space lawyer—who goes by @AlexanderPayton on X—shared, "He has custody of his own kids, one of whom he had at the age of 14, and left them where they would in all likelihood be safe while he went to an interview to improve their station in life. It’s not perfect, but arresting him is going to make things worse." @YIMBYLAND commented, "It’s impossible to rebuild a high-trust society if this is how we treat people who actually need the assistance of said society and are willing to go on a limb to trust that people will do the right thing. This is insane. Let the man free and give him a damn job."

@HannahDCox remarked, "Helicopter parenting culture has to end, this is insane. A 10-year-old looking after their siblings in a safe space for a short period of time while their parent does something next door was normal like 30 years ago." People weighed in with their opinions in the comments. @F3OneD wrote, "Hmmm, borderline on this one. I am not a fan of leaving kids alone in public because we cannot be assured that if someone other than the parent came to get those kids, anybody would intervene. I think this is an issue of how society has broken interpersonal communities of people. This dad walks into *MOST* churches and he can find someone to watch them."

@TheDejaKing shared, "He was gone for 2 hours, completely left the McDonald’s, and totally went home without the kids. Leaving a 3rd grader to look after a 1-year-old baby and a 1st grader at a McDonald’s playhouse for hours. I wish y’all would read the articles before commenting, he was out of line." @AConcernedPare2 expressed, "My kids are a little older (9, 12), but they go to restaurants by themselves all the time. This is crazy."