Go on, Officer.
A New Jersey mother, Michelle Ayala, was enjoying a day at the beach with her children, when she had the police wrongly called on her.
Michelle was with her friends at the Franklin Pond Beach in Sussex County and her two-year-old daughter, Daisy, wanted to be breastfed.
Michelle began to breastfeed her daughter and was approached by a Franklin Borough recreation official, Donna Vreeland, who asked her to move.
“She said, ‘I see what you’re doing there. Do you think you can do that somewhere else?'” Michelle told NBC New York. “And before she finished, I said, ‘I’m allowed to nurse wherever I am.'”
And she is. In the US, it is legal to breastfeed in public in all 50 states.
Despite the laws, however, Vreeland continued to ask Michelle to cover herself up.
Michelle told NJ.com:
“She then kinda got gruff and said, ‘well, then, cover up because there’s people and children on the beach who would be offended by it.'”
Vreeland then called the police on Michelle.
However, she was in for a surprise when the policeman, Officer Nick Della Fera, finally arrived because, unlike Vreeland, Officer Della Fera knew his stuff.
He not only didn’t arrest Michelle but let her know that she had his full support.
He came back shortly after to let her know that she could press charges for harassment if she wanted to. Michelle told CafeMom that she declined, telling Della Fera that “some people just don’t understand the law.”
Unfortunately, once Della Fera was gone, Michelle was approached by town administrator Alison McHose and again asked to cover up.
Michelle had talked earlier on the phone with McHose and argued with her that it wasn’t practicable in the heat to cover up and that her daughter would just pull the cover off.
McHose had said that that she understood and ended the phone conversation. She then turned up at the beach and repeated the request. Michelle continued to protest and eventually McHose backed off.
In a written statement to the New Jersey Herald, McHose wrote:
“The Borough of Franklin is aware that a woman was breastfeeding at the Franklin Pond Beach yesterday (Tuesday) and had some interaction with Borough employees.
“The borough has made significant efforts to make the Franklin Pond Beach a family-friendly area that is welcoming and accommodating to all. The borough is aware of the laws concerning breastfeeding.
“We regret the situation made any of the guests feel uncomfortable and are using this as an opportunity to remind all involved of a woman’s right to breastfeed under New Jersey law.”
