A woman’s social media post has sparked debate online after she confronted a man dragging his daughter with her hair wrapped around a shopping cart handle in a Texas store.

In a Sept. 19 Facebook post that featured photos of the girl and her father, Erika Burch describes how she and her husband, Robert Burch, were shopping in a Wal-Mart in Cleveland, Tex., about 72 kilometres north of Houston, when she noticed them. She described how the girl was walking with her head pressed against the cart her father was pushing. In the post, Burch wrote that the little girl was begging her father to unwrap her hair from the cart handle.

“She was saying, ‘Please stop. I promise I won’t do it again. Please stop!” Burch wrote, adding that she told the man to let his daughter go. According to the post, the child’s father told her to mind her own business and that he “grew up just fine.”

Her Facebook post has been shared more than 242,000 times and has more than 24,000 comments.

Some of the commenters supported Burch’s decision to intervene, while others suggested the man should be able to discipline his child how he sees fit.

“Thank you Erika for trying to stand up for children,” one commenter wrote. “If people can't control their children without hurting them, they should not have them.”

Another comment said that most bystanders wouldn’t get involved in such a situation and that Burch showed “courage” for doing something.

Other commenters believed that Burch should have minded her own business, instead of involving herself in another family’s affairs.

“You’re (Burch) the problem with the way kids are turning out to be this day and age,” one man wrote. “It's none of your business how that man is raising his child.”

Some comments suggested that Burch didn’t know the whole story before she confronted the father, such as what the girl did in the first place.

Burch said she asked the man to stop three times before eventually calling the police. A police officer already happened to be in the store investigating a theft when Burch called, so he was able to join the group in a matter of minutes. She said his sergeant joined them soon after.

In the post, Burch wrote that the police officer didn’t arrest the man because there were no bruises or visible signs of abuse on the girl. According to Burch, she showed the officers the photos she took of the episode and the sergeant told her that the man had a right to discipline his children.

“This is what’s wrong with this world today! Nobody stands up for anyone, not even children!” Burch wrote. “Dragging a girl by the hair of her head is not proper discipline!”

The Cleveland Police Department posted a statement about the incident on their Facebook page. They wrote that they had received numerous calls about the incident and that their Detective Division was looking into it.

“CPS (Child Protective Services) has been contacted per our policy and is also investigating this case,” the police statement said. “A joint investigation is currently being conducted by both agencies.”