The ESPN reporter caught on camera berating a tow-yard employee reportedly abandoned her car overnight at a Chinese restaurant parking lot before the vehicle was towed away.

Britt McHenry, who unleashed a bratty tirade on the worker, had gone to happy hour at the beer-hall-style restaurant, Hunan Number One, and left the same night without her car, workers at the eatery told the Daily Mail.

“Please don’t leave your car here overnight,” a sign posted on the front door of the restaurant proclaims.

When the perky blond sportscaster called the restaurant in Arlington, Va., the next day to retrieve her vehicle, it was already in the tow yard, the Mail said.

Warning: Explicit language

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The new details about the gritty garage saga were revealed as ESPN’s decision to suspend the sportscaster sparked a firestorm of controversy Saturday.

Many people came to McHenry’s defense — including Post columnist Kyle Smith, who wrote that ESPN should have researched “both sides of the story” before taking action.

It turns out that Advanced Towing has a history of negative reviews, and ­offered up an edited, one-sided video of the nasty exchange. And, Smith argued, should someone be punished for something said outside of work?

Dozens of readers, mesmerized by the mean-girl takedown, rushed to social media to cheer — or blast — Smith’s pointed piece.

“You’re wrong. Britt McHenry should know better — she is on TV. She can get mad and take action. But be smart,” Anthony Curtis of Greenwich Village tweeted.

“Kyle Smith needs to be tarred and feathered,” Vincent Goodroe fumed.

But others cheered the column, saying it changed their minds.

“UR wonderful story on ‘ADVANCED TOWING’ has made me reconsider my initial views on the ‘Britt McHenry’ story,” gushed Jessica Lopez.

Others added their own complaints about the lot. “The impound-lot attendant was prone to hysteria, and repeatedly yelled at me,” one wrote.

McHenry was so furious about the towing, she exploded at attendant Gina Michelle, saying, “I’m on television and you’re in a ­f–king trailer, honey,” and, “Lose some weight, baby girl.”

McHenry apologized Thursday, tweeting, “In an intense and stressful moment, I allowed my emotions to get the best of me.”

But that didn’t stop ESPN from suspending her for a week on Friday.

Some critics don’t care about the back-story.

“She deserved to be suspended. Fired even,” tweeted @LethalHuxtable.

But one reader emailed Smith, “I have no dog in this fight but I do wonder how many times I might’ve been fired in my day if my arguments held outside of the workplace were held against me.”