Mother Ticketed, Nearly Towed By NYC Traffic Agent While Breastfeeding Her Baby
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – A Manhattan mother is fighting a parking ticket she got after she pulled over to breastfeed her baby.
Mother of four, Guillermina Rodriguez is juggling a lot. That was no different Thursday morning, when she was driving through Midtown with a hungry three-week-old baby crying in the backseat.
"It was immense amount of traffic. It took me 45 minutes to an hour just to get from 42nd to 30th Street," Rodriguez said.
So when she finally found a space to pull over…
"Even though I saw it was a commercial area I'm like 'I'm not obstructing the traffic. I'm not blocking anybody. Let me just stay there and I'll breastfeed the baby there,'" the mother said.
Rodriguez climbed in the back seat. A few minutes into nursing, an NYPD tow truck pulls in front.
"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 don't tow my truck."
She says the ticket agent finally got out and walked over to Rodriguez's truck.
"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 said with a laugh. "He turned and looks and he's like 'oh ok'… puts the ticket on the windshield and leaves."
The mother was slapped with a $115 ticket for standing in a commercial zone.
"I'm here breastfeeding, he just gave me a ticket."
The NYPD told CBS2 that traffic agent wrote the ticket before he saw Rodriguez was breastfeeding and since traffic agents don't have authority to void tickets – his hands were tied.
"I think they should've been more sensitive," the mother said.
Rodriguez says ticket agents should consider nursing urgent enough to exempt a fine.
"I think getting them a little more educated on that area would be helpful."
Rodriguez plans to dispute the ticket and says she hopes the judge is a parent. Authorities did not provide a reason why the agent did not check the vehicle first before trying to tow it away.