Breastfeeding mother receives apology after deputy threatens to arrest her

COLUMBUS, GA (WCMH) – The Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office in Georgia has publicly apologized to a Georgia mother after a deputy allegedly threatened to arrest her for indecent exposure while she was breastfeeding.

Savannah Shukla was grocery shopping at a Piggly Wiggly Sunday night when her 1-month-old got hungry.

“He was just how he is right now, on the boob, asleep,” Shukla said.

After checking out, the deputy stopped her and allegedly asked her to cover up.

“I’m not doing anything wrong,” Shukla said. “I said if somebody finds it offensive, that’s on them, not on me.”

Then Shukla says she told the deputy that Georgia law allows mothers to breastfeed in any location where the mother and baby are otherwise authorized to be. She said that’s when the deputy grew frustrated and threatened to arrest her.

“He was like ‘Well ma’am, I already see your areola, and if he unlatches and shows nipple that is considered indecent exposure,’” she said. “So if I were to try and cover myself up, even if it’s just a second, he said that would be considered indecent exposure and that he really didn’t want to have me arrested.”

The Muscogee County Sheriff John Darr weighed in on social media:

On Monday, Shukla filed an official complaint, hoping that other mothers won’t receive the same treatment.

“It was horrifying, absolutely horrifying that somebody, who like I said, is supposed to protect me, threatened to arrest me and I hadn’t even done anything wrong,” she said.

Darr met with Shukla on Monday and posted the following update to Facebook: