A woman claims a sheriff’s deputy in Georgia threatened to arrest her for breastfeeding her month-old son at a supermarket, leading to a social media clarification from the sheriff himself.
Savannah Shukla detailed the incident in a lengthy Facebook post on Sunday that’s been shared more than 13,000 times. She claims the deputy approached her as she left a supermarket in Columbus, telling her she needed to cover up because another customer might find it “offensive,” according to the post.
Shukla said she told the deputy she was allowed to breastfeed under Georgia state law.
“He then grows flustered and says, ‘No ma’am that’s not the case,’” Shukla wrote. “And I said ‘No I know what the law says.’”
The deputy then told Shukla she was misinformed and said she would be arrested for indecent exposure if another customer saw her nipple.
“I finally got mad enough and walked away,” Shukla’s post continued, adding that she was “so upset” about the incident.
Shukla promised to report the incident to the deputy’s supervisors at the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, insisting that if the deputy admonished her for breastfeeding in public, “he will do it to someone else,” she wrote on Facebook.
Muscogee County Sheriff John Darr said he met with Shukla on Monday to discuss the incident and later emphasized on Facebook that she was entirely within her rights to breastfeed at the supermarket.
“I reiterated my stance on breastfeeding, as a father and grandfather,” Darr wrote. “My children were all breastfed and I would never condone a law enforcement officer telling my wife that she should stop feeding our child or face arrest. This is a very serious complaint that I am very concerned about.”
Darr said Shukla filed a formal complaint with the department and confirmed an ongoing investigation into the incident.
“However, regardless of the outcome, we would like to ensure that a situation like this does not happen again in the future,” Darr’s post read. “We have sent out a reminder to all of our deputies, that in accordance with Georgia law, a woman has a legal right to breastfeed wherever she needs to, without having to cover up.”
Many Facebook users praised Darr’s response, which was shared more than 500 times.
“From a breastfeeding mother in Maryland who saw this circulating online I am very impressed with your response,” one woman wrote. “Thank you so much for taking this seriously.”
Another woman said she commended Darr for not downplaying the allegations.
“A mother should never be made to feel ashamed or embarrassed for feeding her child, and your officer was out of line,” she wrote. “I hope that you will follow through with this to the end and if it is determined that the officer should be reprimanded and retrained that it is seen to. The world is watching.”