As reported by AOL.com. Read below..
A sheriff’s officer in Columbus, Georgia, allegedly told a mother he might have to arreste her if she exposed her nipple while breastfeeding.
On Sunday, mom of two Savannah Shukla shared her blood-boiling experience on facebook. She had just fed her 1-month-old son, Kumar, inside of Piggly Wiggly when the officer approached her about others being uncomfortable with her breastfeeding. She cited Georgia state law, which gives her the right to breastfeed — covered or not — wherever she is legally allowed to be. The officer said she was mistaken, and that she could be charged with indecent exposure.
When she again stated her rights, the officer insisted she had no idea what she was talking about. “‘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,’ the officer said, according to Skula’s post. ‘This isn’t like the first amendment where you can say something offensive.”
The officer also mentioned he could “already see (her) areola,” and if someone saw her nipple, he would have to arrest her. “For him to see my areola he would’ve had to have been staring VERY hard,” she pointed out.
In the end, Shukla said she ended up leaving the store in anger, telling the officer she knew her rights and bidding him a good night. She called the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office on Monday to report the incident, and ended up filing paperwork for a formal complaint, too. “It was horrifying, absolutely horrifying that somebody, who like I said, is supposed to protect me, threatened to arrest me and I hadn’t even done anything wrong,” Shukla told WTVM.
Sheriff John T. Darr with the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office took to facebook to apologize for the officer’s actions.
“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,” Darr wrote. “It is also the law in the state of Georgia. We are currently looking into this incident and it will be addressed. Our office does not condone these actions and will ensure all officers know and understand the law.”
