A Davenport mom blogger whose story claiming that her 2-year-old son was confronted by a man at Walmart for wearing a pink headband went viral over the weekend has now been Baker Acted, according to a published report.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office has confirmed Kathleen Carpenter, who blogs under the name Katie Vyktoriah, made suicidal comments to Polk County deputies after she reported threatening and harassing phone calls to her home after her story was published on the Huffington Post website and quickly went viral.
Since then, Carpenter has shut down her own website, claiming an "overwhelming level of traffic" in response to her story, which some commenters claimed she made up. Carpenter also removed her Twitter and Facebook accounts.
In her blog post, Carpenter said she let her 2-year-old son wear a pink headband to Walmart, and claimed a man there ripped it off the boy's head and touched him, saying, "You'll thank me later, little man."
A Lake County Sheriff's Office incident report said Carpenter claimed the incident happened at the Walmart near Cagan Crossings off U.S. Highway 27, in Clermont, near the Four Corners area.
Carpenter wrote she stepped in between her son and the man, telling him not to touch her son again. She then claimed the man called her son a homosexual slur, adding as he walked out of the store, "He'll get shot for it one day."
Carpenter added several other people saw the incident, but no one stopped to help her.
On Facebook, Carpenter said the incident happened Monday, July 29. She said she contacted the Polk County Sheriff's Office on Saturday, Aug. 3, after receiving harassing phone calls and emails.
Documents dated Monday, Aug. 5, said Carpenter received more than 11,000 emails in response to her blog post.
In her last update on Facebook, on Saturday, she said she had been advised not to say any more about the situation, adding, "I am going to be offline for the next while until all of this is resolved."
The original blog post sparked outrage online regarding the man who allegedly ripped the pink headband off her 2-year-old son and called him a gay slur.
But some readers expressed doubt in her story, wondering why she didn't notify authorities sooner or report the incident to Walmart managers.
The Lake County Sheriff's Office also said it was working to obtain surveillance video from the Walmart to verify if the incident actually did occur, "or if it was all made up."
Carpenter was taken into custody Monday night by a Polk County deputy under Florida's Baker Act, which allows authorities to commit someone to a mental evaluation.
According to a report from the Polk County Sheriff's Office, Carpenter "made suicidal statements fitting the criteria for a Baker Act." She was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center without incident.
Carpenter was later released Tuesday, according to our partners at The Ledger. She told the newspaper the thousands of emails and threats online led to her breakdown Monday.
In accordance with our Crime Guidelines, we have redacted the names of the child involved in the alleged incident.