Little girl asked to leave KFC due to facial scars | The Compost Bin | Forums

from a dog attack

The grandmother of a 3-year-old girl who was viciously attacked by three dogs says she was asked to leave a KFC in Jackson, Miss., by an employee who said the girl's scars were scaring other customers.

“They just told us, ‘We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers,’" Kelly Mullins, Victoria Wilcher's grandmother, told WAPT-TV. "She understood exactly what they said."

Mullins said she was driving her granddaughter home from the hospital in early June when they stopped at KFC for mashed potatoes.

The dog attack, Mullins explained, has made it difficult for her granddaughter to swallow.

"The right side of her face is paralyzed," Mullins said. "She's got a lot of surgeries to go through and she won't even look in the mirror anymore. When we go to a store, she doesn't even want to get out [of the car]. She's 3 years old and she's embarrassed about what she looks like."

The incident, Mullins said, left the girl in tears.

“No matter what’s wrong with a person, if a person’s different, if a person’s scarred, or is a different color or anything, people shouldn’t be discriminated against,” Mullins continued. “Her being 3 years old and already being discriminated against, it makes me mad, because I know for the rest of her life it’s going to be like that.”

KFC said it is investigating the incident.

"We take this very seriously, as we have zero tolerance for any kind of hurtful or disrespectful actions toward our guests," KFC spokesman Rick Maynard said in a statement. "Our investigation is ongoing, but we have been in touch with the family and are committed to doing something appropriate for this beautiful little girl and her family. We will also work with the franchisee to take appropriate action at the restaurant once the specifics of the incident are determined."

Not surprisingly, her story has gone viral. A Facebook page launched in April to give friends updates on Victoria's recovery has garnered more than 30,000 likes, thanks in large part to a post about her experience at KFC.

KFC, it's worth noting, responded on Facebook the next day.

"Please accept our sincere apologies while we try to investigate this incident," the restaurant wrote in a comment. "If you could help provide details of the incident ... we will look into this immediately. We have zero tolerance for any kind of disrespectful behavior by our team members. Once we have further details, we will immediately investigate this and take action, and we wish nothing but the best for Victoria in her recovery."

A donation page set up to help Victoria's family pay her medical bills has raised nearly $20,000.

Investigators said three pit bulls attacked Victoria the backyard of her grandfather's home. According to WAPT-TV, the grandfather, Donald Mullins — Kelly Mullins' ex-husband — shot and killed two of the dogs; a third was euthanized. The grandfather and his girlfriend were later arrested on child-endangerment charges.

According to Simpson County Sheriff Kenneth Lewis, Donald Mullins was keeping 10 pit bulls at his home at the time of the attack.

"This is probably the worst [pit bull attack] we've ever had," Lewis said.

The month before, a 3-year-old boy died after being mauled by two pit bulls in Holmes County, Miss., the Jackson Clarion Ledger reported, "an attack that prompted Sheriff Willie March to state his support for a countywide ban on the breed."

http://news.yahoo.com/girl-scar-pit-bull-kfc-asked-to-leave-172943098.html?soc_src=mediacontentstory

KFC responds

KFC says it's investigating allegations that a restaurant employee in Jackson, Mississippi, asked a 3-year-old to leave because her facial injuries disturbed other patrons. 

The company is also giving $30,000 toward Victoria Wilcher's medical bills, a spokesman said Sunday. 

The allegation about KFC was made Thursday on "Victoria's Victories," a Facebook pagefollowing Victoria's recovery from a pit bull attack in April. The administrator posted a photo showing Victoria smiling shyly in spite of her facial scars and cartoon-decorated eye patch, writing, "Does this look scary to you? Last week at KFC in Jackson MS this precious face was asked to leave because her face scared the other diners." 

KFC posted an apology the next morning, requesting details. 

"As soon as we were notified of this report on Friday, we immediately began an investigation, as this kind of hurtful and disrespectful action would not be tolerated by KFC," spokesman Rick Maynard wrote Sunday in an email to The Associated Press. "Regardless of the outcome of our investigation, we have apologized to Victoria's family and are committed to assisting them. The company is making a $30,000 donation to assist with her medical bills. The entire KFC family is behind Victoria." 

Her grandmother Kelly Mullins said Victoria had just been to a doctor's when they stopped at the restaurant. She ordered mashed potatoes for Victoria because she thought the hungry child could swallow the soft food without chewing. 

She says she was then approached by an employee. "They just told us, they said, 'We have to ask you to leave because her face is disrupting our customers,'" she told WAPT-TV. 

Victoria wept all the way home and now is embarrassed by her appearance – something that wasn't the case before, Mullins said. 

"She won't even look in the mirror anymore," Mullins said. "When we go to a store, she doesn't even want to get out" of the car. 

Victoria was attacked by pit bulls at her grandfather's home. The dogs broke her nose, both jaws, cheekbones and right eye socket; the right side of her face is paralyzed, and she lost that eye, according to her Facebook site. Her bottom jaw was reconstructed, but she needs a feeding tube and must grow more bone in her face before more surgery is possible, it states. 

The page's administrator wrote Sunday that "Victoria's Victories" had gone from 250 people praying for Victoria to thousands. 

The page had more than 55,500 "likes" on Monday. 

A message posted Friday evening by another Mississippi KFC franchisee, Dick West of West Quality Food Service in Laurel, offered "a big KFC picnic" for the child and her family. 

West also wrote that he knows the Jackson restaurant owners, "and they have never in the 50 years they have operated in Jackson allowed anyone coming into their restaurants to be treated with disrespect." 

In a message to the AP, he wrote, "I am sure KFC will make their finding public as soon as the facts are in. In the meantime, I offered to treat Victoria to a picnic because regardless of the outcome of the investigation, she has been thru more than any little girl should and I wanted to give her a special treat."