Guillermina Rodriguez, a mother of four, was driving Thursday morning in congested midtown Manhattan traffic when her hungry 3-week-old baby began crying, WCBS-TV reported.
"It was immense amount of traffic," she told the station. "It took me 45 minutes to an hour just to get from 42nd to 30th Street."
Her first order of business was getting her baby fed — which in Rodriquez's case means breastfeeding.
And when she finally found an open spot, Rodriquez nabbed it. That it was for commercial vehicles only didn't seem like an earth shattering deal.
"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,'" Rodriquez told WCBS.
So she got into the back seat and began breastfeeding her baby — but the relative quiet didn't last long.
What happened next?
A few minutes after she began to breastfeed, she said a NYPD tow truck pulled in front of her vehicle.
"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!'" Rodriquez told the station.
Then a ticket agent emerged, walked to Rodriguez's vehicle, WCBS said — and likely wasn't prepared for what he saw.
"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!'" she recounted to the station with a laugh. "He turned and looks, and he's like, 'Oh OK.'"
Except it wasn't completely "OK" — the official slapped a $115 ticket on Rodriquez's windshield before leaving, she told WCBS.
"I'm here breastfeeding," she's heard saying on video she recorded of the incident. "He just gave me a ticket."
What did police have to say?
The NYPD told the station that the traffic agent wrote the ticket before he saw Rodriguez breastfeeding and that his hands were tied since agents can't void tickets. WCBS added that authorities didn't offer a reason why the agent didn't first check the vehicle before readying to tow it.
'More sensitive' and 'more educated'
"I think they should've been more sensitive," Rodriquez told the station, adding that breastfeeding mothers should be exempted from fines.
"I think getting them a little more educated on that area would be helpful," she also told WCBS.
Rodriguez also told the station she plans on disputing her ticket — and hopes the judge is a parent.
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