Manhattan, NY — Guillermina Rodriguez, a mother of four from New York City, was hit with a parking ticket and almost got her car towed after she pulled over to breastfeed her hungry newborn baby who was crying in the back seat. She now plans to dispute the ticket.
When she found a space to pull over — a commercial area where she believed she wouldn’t obstruct the traffic — she hopped into the back seat and began feeding her baby.
A few minutes later, a police tow truck suddenly pulled up.
“He’s backing up to tow my truck, so as I am in this position breastfeeding, now I jump over to the front seat to honk so he can see you know, like, ‘Don’t tow my truck, I’m in here’,” Rodriguez told CBS News.
The next thing she knows, the ticket agent got out, walked over her vehicle, and continued writing her traffic ticket.
“I’m actually breastfeeding on one side and pumping on the other so both my breasts are out, and I turn and I’m like, ‘I’m breastfeeding the baby!'” Rodriguez laughingly said. “And he kind of looks and he’s like, ‘Oh, OK,’ … puts the ticket on the windshield and leaves.”
Even though she was obviously feeding her baby, she was slapped with a $115 ticket.
In their defense, the NYPD said the traffic agent has already written the ticket before he actually saw Rodriguez breastfeeding. And since traffic agents don’t have the power to void tickets, he couldn’t do anything.
However, Rodriguez felt like nursing a baby should be considered an emergency case that could be exempted from fine. “I feel like getting them a little bit more educated on that area would be a lot more helpful,” she said.
Rodriguez plans to dispute the ticket and she hopes the incident could raise awareness about breastfeeding.