Luann Cofield posted the photo and her rant to her Facebook page. Photo / Facebook
Luann Cofield posted the photo and her rant to her Facebook page. Photo / Facebook
A US woman has been forced to apologise to a formerly homeless man after she tried to humiliate him online.
Luann Cofield had been eating at a McDonald's restaurant in the state of Georgia last month when she spotted a man sleeping in the restaurant booth, using his backpack asa pillow.
Cofield was so confronted by the scene, she decided to take a photograph of the sleeping man and share her disgust with friends and family.
Luann Cofield posted the photo and her rant to her Facebook page. Photo / Facebook
What she didn't realise was that the man was 21-year-old Simon Childs, a homeless father of a four-month-old boy, who was attempting to get some sleep between his shifts at McDonald's.
After Cofield's post went viral, members of the community came forward to defend the man, explaining that he had recently lost his mother and had fallen on hard times.
The last time we saw Simon Childs, it was a couple of days after someone made a disparaging Facebook post about the then-homeless father sleeping in the @McDonalds where he worked. pic.twitter.com/7CQiHMY7Ru
She received major backlash from people who condemned her for judging and attempting to shame someone who situation she did not understand, with many branding her behaviour "shameful" and "cruel".
A local news crew from WSB-TV covered the story and that week, people began travelling to the McDonald's restaurant where Mr Childs worked to leave donations for him and his baby son.
Cofield was forced to delete her Facebook account and but was moved after seeing the huge outpouring of support for the man she had posted about.
She reached out to WSB-TV to arrange a meeting with him and apologise for her hurtful act.
Through tears, Cofield told the camera: "I didn't want to hurt him.
When the pair officially met, Cofield gave Mr Childs a hug and apologised.
"I'm sorry that, you know … because that horrifies me, that breaks my heart, for you," she said.
But according to Mr Childs, he was, in a way, grateful she had posted a photograph of his unfortunate circumstance at the time.
"I'm no longer sleeping in a McDonald's, so that's good," he said.
"I feel great."
Look at him today! After his story became international news, he's upgraded his look and he's standing next to the car that was donated for him to borrow. He starts a new job next month. He's staying with someone who heard his story and took him in temporarily. pic.twitter.com/0bHLIAwDvK
