A US mother is up in arms, after a mall Santa allegedly spanked her autistic son.
Indiana woman Jessica Chandler called local police, claiming her son had been assaulted - then lambasted the mall on its Facebook page.
"The Santa at the College Mall in Bloomington took it upon himself to spank [my son] because he wasn't following directions," she said in an angry post, which has since been deleted.
"He bent over in his chair and smacked Daniel on the butt. Daniel wasn't upset at the time but he was confused."
Afterwards, the Santa received threats and was forced to leave his job, but he's fighting back and has hired an attorney.
"I really don't think Ms Chandler understands what she's done," lawyer Jeremy Schnepper told TIME.
"He's absolutely devastated."
Ms Chandler has since told police she "may have overreacted" and didn't actually see the incident occur, Newsweek reports.
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