‘Damned if you do, damned if you don’t’: Internet rallies around man arrested for leaving 3 kids at McDonald’s to go to a job interview
Trying to find a job is nerve-wracking enough without having to think about potential childcare, should an opportunity come up. One Georgia father is facing criminal charges after leaving his three children—ages 1, 6, and 10—alone in a McDonald’s to allegedly attend a job interview.
The incident sparked national attention and support, even reaching NFL star Antonio Brown, as well as conversations surrounding parenting and poverty. Social media users are divided as more details emerge, with some viewing the father's actions as reckless, and others as the only available move in a broken system.
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. https://t.co/FbN7MZW3Lw
— Hannah Cox (@HannahDCox) April 1, 2025
“Helicopter parenting culture has to end, this is insane,” wrote X user @HannahDCox. “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.”
@HannahDCox reshared a post from the X account @GAFollowers, which included a link to a news story. “A 24-year-old Augusta man was arrested for leaving his children—ages 1, 6, and 10—alone at a McDonald's while he attended a nearby job interview,” the caption states. Her reshare, posted on Apr. 1., 2025, has 16.4M views, 249K likes, 16K reshares, 5.9K saves and 5.4K comments.
“I was watching my younger brothers at age 10 by myself alone in the 80's,” wrote X user @tinivule, in the comments of her reshare. “The world has gone soft.”
X user @TheDejaKing didn’t feel the same way. “He was gone for 2 hours, completely left the McDonald’s, and went totally home without the kids,” they added. “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.”
“This is one of those ‘you’re damned if you do, damned if you don’t,’ situations,” remarked X user @alexswilbanks. “Trying to work? Arrested. Can’t afford childcare? Judged. Meanwhile, most people yelling wouldn’t last a week in this man’s shoes.”
Why did Chris Louis leave his kids alone at McDonald’s?
According to the Augusta Press, a concerned customer at McDonald’s called authorities after noticing three young children were left unattended and playing alone in the restaurant on Mar. 22., 2025.
The father of the children —aged 1, 6, and 10— was first seen with them at the location around 4:30 p.m. It is unclear what time he left the children, but he was later arrested at 6:18 p.m. when he came back.
24-year-old Chris Louis told authorities that he was at a job interview and that he left the children at McDonald’s because he “didn’t want to make them walk back” to their apartment while the interview was in session.
The children's mother was called and came to the scene shortly after the arrest, the Augusta Press adds, and Louis was charged with deprivation of a minor.
Former NFL player Antonio Brown raises money for Chris Louis
Many came to the defense of Louis as word of the incident spread across social media. Antonio Brown, a former wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers, reacted to news of the controversial arrest with sympathy.
“Anybody know how to get a hold of Chris? Would love to help him,” he posted on his X account (@AB84) on Apr. 1., 2025, resharing the headline from @WORLDSTAR. The viral post has 4.9M views, 54K likes, 5.2K reshares, 803K saves and over 1.9K comments.
Later in the day Brown posted a follow-up promoting a crowdfunding campaign for Louis. “Have partnered with @gofundme to help raise $ for Chris,” he stated. “Leaving his kids wasn’t right… but not everyone has the $ or help for child care Chris was on the Pursuit of Happiness & sometimes ppl just need help,”
“I will be donating $1000,” the football star added, with a link to the GoFundMe campaign and a screenshot of Louis’s news headline.
In less than 24 hours, Brown’s campaign had over 1,176 donations, raising over $38,000, with an end goal of $50,000. Brown himself donated $1,084, and according to the “top donations” roster, $1,000 has also been donated by sports commentator Kirk Herbstreit.
“Story caught me by surprise,” Brown wrote in the description of the GoFundMe campaign, entitled, “Pursuit of Happiness - Chris Louis.”
“A dad just trying to find a way to make money for his family,” he continued. “I know he shouldn’t just leave his kids, but some people don’t have the means for babysitting, etc.”
Brown explained that the campaign was set up to help Louis without more specific reasons why, adding that he’s “spoken with GoFundMe” to ensure the funds will get to the arrested father of three. Brown also stated that hasn’t spoken to Louis yet, but hopes to soon.
The play by Brown seemed to resonate with others, who were moved by his generosity.
“Antonio Brown started a GoFundMe for that dad that was arrested at his job interview,” comedian @AmiriKing posted on X. “As a father who has struggled immensely, I will be donating. I urge all fathers to do the same.”
“It makes me so happy to see someone looking out for this man, thank you for being that person,” wrote X user @ConcealedBones in the comments of Brown’s post.
“Lord willing the brother learn and get the funds he needs to take care of his children,” added X user @BachirSoHumble. “Everyone makes mistakes but definitely should be a learning lesson anything could have happened to his children. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
Is 10 too young to babysit? Social media responds
Louis’ case has sparked mixed reactions online, with many empathizing with his predicament while others criticized his parenting skills.
“Hmmm, borderline on this one,” wrote X user @F3OneD in the comments of @HannahDCox’s reshare. “I am not a fan of leaving kids alone in public because we cannot be assured that if someone other than that parent came to get those kids, anybody would intervene,”
“I think this is an issue of how society has broken interpersonal communities of people,” @F3OneD continued. “This dad walks into *MOST* churches and he can find someone to watch them.”
“This is the kind of Karen thinking that got him arrested,” @HannahDCox shot back. “What do you think happens to those kids if he can’t work or he’s in jail for this? You don’t see that as the bigger threat? Do you have any idea just how VASTLY rare non-familial kidnappings are??”
Many on X seemed to feel that 10 was a perfectly acceptable age for a child to be responsible for watching their younger siblings alone.
“A 10 year old is absolutely capable of watching their 6 and 1 year old siblings for an hour in a safe public space,” X user @LizzyStarrrdust shared, resharing @GAFollowers’s post. “This man did nothing wrong. Safetyism is destroying society.”
“Don’t act like 10-year-olds haven’t been babysitting 6 and one-year-olds from the dawn of time,” added @Lisaelizabeth, who reshared a post on the subject from X account @DailyLoud. “It doesn’t happen often now, but it sure did 100 years ago.”
Others felt that Louis did what he had to do because he lacked the proper resources to do otherwise.
“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,” stated X user @YIMBYLAND. “This is insane. Let the man free and give him a damn job.”
X user @_iamjamila agreed. “Arresting him when all he needed was community & resources is exactly why I am anti prison & policing,” she wrote.
Some netizens also believed that leaving the kids in a McDonald’s was a smart choice on Louis’ part.
“I’m sorry, he left them in a public space briefly in AC and with bathrooms to go attend a job interview to provide for them?” X user @sunnyright stated in the caption of their reshare. “Nah drop those charges.”
Not everyone was so quick to agree. “If I was the manager of that business and that happened on my shift, I’d call the police immediately,” X user @ChrissyCher replied. “I would not want to be liable or culpable if anything happened to those children. Businesses are not baby care centers,”
“I definitely feel compassion, knowing the whole story, but doesn’t change the fact that it is reckless, disrespectful and incredibly dangerous,” they added.
“I'm optimistic because I see everyone defending the dad,” @Opportunitweet posted. “I hope someone tells him how many people were on his side.”
The Daily Dot reached out to Antonio Brown via email and the contact form on his GoFundMe site, for comment.
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