Subway employee considering legal action over deputy’s post

A Subway restaurant employee says she is humiliated and is considering legal action after a Howard County sheriff’s deputy posted a photo of her on Facebook making light of her condition after she had a seizure.

Laurie Roth, general manager at the Fayette restaurant, took a screen grab of the post on Bradley Young’s Facebook page and shared it in her own Facebook post. The post was not visible on Young’s page Thursday.

“When you have to walk in and wake up a Subway worker to try to order. Then get told she’s not feeling well as she’s stumbling everywhere. Yeah not ordering for you today,” Young apparently wrote in a Facebook photo caption on Sunday.

Subway employee Neda Smith said she was having a seizure.

“All I remember is looking up and seeing an officer staring at me,” Smith said. “They weren’t asking if I needed help.”

She said she feels “extremely victimized” by the Facebook post. “If he had known that I had a seizure and got me help immediately then this wouldn’t have happened,” she said. “I mean why did he post a picture and write a caption like that? I feel so humiliated.” ABC 17 News contacted Young about the Facebook post but he has not responded. “I just want everyone to know my employee is fine,” Roth said in her post. “She had a seizure at work last night.” Smith said she remembers several deputies watching her stumble around and then leave the Subway. “There were about six or seven other officers and they were all laughing at me, every single one of them,” Smith said. She said she suffered a grand mal seizure over the summer and returned to work about a month and a half ago. Howard County Sheriff Mike Neal apologized to Smith, Smith said. “He sincerely apologized for the behavior of his sheriff’s deputies,” she said. Neal told ABC 17 News that he was aware of the incident and handling it internally. He declined to give any more information about how he’s responding to the issue, his opinion on the situation or whether he’s taking any disciplinary action against the deputy. “I’m not telling everybody and their brother about it,” Neal said. Neal said there is likely more to the story than what people are seeing on social media sites. “That’s the problem with social media,” he said.