Officer threatens to arrest woman for breastfeeding in public
When it comes to breastfeeding in public, everyone has a right to their own opinion. But it’s quite another matter when an officer — someone whose job it is to protect the basic human rights of citizens — allows his personal opinions get in the way of the law.
“Tonight while in Piggly Wiggly with my sister and both my children (the oldest 20 months and the youngest 1 month old today) while nursing, a deputy approached me right when I was about to leave and informed that I needed to cover up because someone might find it ‘offensive,‘” shared Savannah Shukla in a Facebook post.
Shukla lives in Georgia, a state where breastfeeding in public is legal and certainly not considered offensive. Upon stating that to the officer, he claimed she had the law wrong and again asked her to cover up or else he may be forced to arrest her.
“You just THINK you know what the law says and if your nipple becomes exposed I really don’t want to have to arrest you or you be arrested for being offensive. This isn’t like the first amendment where you can say something offensive,” he said to her.
To add to her frustration, he then pointed out that he could already see her areola and should someone else see her nipple he would have to arrest her — and he really didn’t want to have to do that.
“For him to see my areola he would’ve had to have been staring VERY hard,” Shukla says. “I finally got mad enough and walked away telling him I know my right to have a good night. And went to the car and boohooed and I’m still boohooing about it.”
On her way out of the store she happened to run into a paralegal named April who snapped a photo of the officer and also identified him as Deputy Zipata. She too shared the incident on Facebook to show her support for the mom.
The Facebook posts managed to catch the attention of Sheriff John T. Darr who posted his own response on Facebook Monday.
“I have seen and am aware of a post circulating Facebook, regarding a situation between a Muscogee County deputy and a woman attempting to breastfeed her young child,” he begins by saying. “My wife and I have four children, each of whom were breastfed, and two of my daughters now have small children of their own. Therefore, I fully understand and appreciate the right of a woman to feed her child wherever she is most comfortable. It is also the law in the state of Georgia.”
He then goes on to explain that he will be looking further into the matter and that this type of behaviour is not something the department condones or supports.
“On behalf of the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, I would like to personally extend an apology to the woman involved, and we hope that she knows that these are not the opinions or practices of the office as a whole.”
