AUGUSTA, Ga.—A pregnant mother is facing disorderly conduct charges in Georgia for allowing her 3-year-old son to relieve himself in public.
Brooke Johns’s toddler son alerted his mother he needed to use the restroom Wednesday, April 3. The two barely made it to a gas station before she realized he wasn’t going to make it inside.
“He’s like, ‘Mom, I’ve got to pee. I’ve got to pee!’ I was like, ‘Well, hold on,’ and he’s like, ‘No! I’ve GOT to pee! I’ve got to REALLY pee.’ And I’m like, ‘Baby, there’s nowhere for me to go, and he says, ‘Momma, I’m about to pee in my pants!” she said.
Johns, who was told by her doctor not to pick her 3-year-old up because she’s eight months pregnant, added that they couldn’t make it inside a gas station after pulling over in the parking lot.
“I can’t pick him up,” Brooke told the news outlet. “You know, I’m not supposed to lift him.”
Brooke was unable to carry the boy due to being just weeks from giving birth. She said she did what she thought was the next best thing, covering him as he urinated in the parking lot.
PARENTS: We’ve all had potty-training emergencies, but this one is NEXT LEVEL.
This (very pregnant) Beech Island mother recently got a ticket for disorderly conduct after she says her little boy had to pee in a parking lot. I’ll have their story tonight @WRDW_WAGT at 6 o’clock. pic.twitter.com/wkuD5rkshw
— MEREDITH ANDERSON (@MeredithWRDW) April 3, 2019
WRDW-TV reported that a Richmond County deputy saw what happened and cited Johns. The citation sparked a lot of backlash on social media from parents.
The Beech Island, South Carolina woman has an April 30 court date, days before she is due.
TOO FAR? The pregnant mom could face a thousand dollars in fines and 60 days in jail for letting her toddler pee in a gas station parking lot when she couldn’t get him to the bathroom in time.
STORY: https://t.co/PDQz3F0CUG pic.twitter.com/3lkxkkUEgY
— Fox 35 News (@Fox35News) April 7, 2019
According to Yahoo News, she posted a photo on Facebook, saying she was covering him up when he went to the bathroom.
Johns said that she didn’t post the picture on Facebook to criticize the police.
“The point of this isn’t to bash the cops it is to make a stand for what I did and why and yes I got rude but I didn’t get rude until after I was accused numerous times of showing my son’s [genitalia] which was impossible. The only thing that was visible are his legs and his pee hitting the ground,” she said.
Pregnant woman cited for disorderly conduct after 3-year-old son urinates in parking lot https://t.co/m28sHecAYQ pic.twitter.com/tARWxTiNnp
— WLKY (@WLKY) April 6, 2019
A person who said they worked as a police officer thought the charge was excessive.
“I’m a cop. There is letter of the law and spirit of the law. I pulled a woman over with a $5,000 warrant. She had her two kids In the car. Low-income neighborhood. I told her about the warrant and let her go,” he said. “The kids would have to go to some sort of foster home, even if it’s for the night until we get in touch with family and do that process. She would go to jail and also have to pay for the car being towed and everything. Sometimes you have to make the humane call.”
Epoch Times reporter Jack Phillips and The Associated Press contributed to this report.