There’s a video circulating right now on TikTok that has over 1 million views. It shows a young child visibly shivering as he sits in a Walmart shopping cart, a black jacket draped loosely around his shoulders.
“That baby just had a Papmer on,” a voice can be heard saying off-camera. A woman identified as the child’s mother appeared to confirm that she brought him in to the store with just a diaper on.
According to an article shared by the Byram Police Department in Mississippi, witnesses said she had the child out in 20-degree temperatures last Wednesday at around 10:30 a.m.
“The actual outside temperature that morning was 20 degrees with even colder wind chills, said Police Chief David Errington,” said the Dark Horse Press report. It said that officers found the child’s mother, Kambria G. Darby, in the parking lot and that an investigation into the situation revealed that her son was clothed by other shoppers.
In the TikTok video, she can be seen arguing with other customers and at one point shaking her bottom at them.
“Police placed Darby in custody for child neglect and secured the child in a warm police unit. Local EMS were called in to evaluate the child’s condition, and Child Protective Services responded and ultimately released the child to an approved relative,” said the Dark Horse Press.
As for Darby, she was held in custody at the Hinds County Detention Center on bond conditions ordered by the Hinds County Youth Court, the outlet said.
Risks associated with cold weather have been in the headlines this moth following the discovery of three men who apparently froze to death outside of a friends’ home in Missouri after watching a football game. Per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, hypothermia – a dangerous condition related to cold body temperature – is most likely at very cold temperatures but “can occur even at cool temperatures (above 40°F) if a person becomes chilled from rain, sweat, or submersion in cold water.”