Pregnant mom could face jail time for letting three-year-old son pee in parking lot of gas station
A 34-weeks pregnant South Carolina mom was cited and may have to spend 60 days behind bars after she let her three-year-old son urinate in the parking lot of a gas station because she could not get him to the bathroom in time.
According to WRDW, Brooke Johns, of Beech Island, South Carolina, was driving down Sandbar Ferry Road in Augusta, Georgia, on Wednesday, April 3, when her son told her that he needed to go to the bathroom urgently. Knowing there was little time, she pulled into the parking lot of a gas station, only to realize that he would not make it to the restroom.
"He's like, 'Mom, I've got to pee. I've got to pee!'" she told the station. "And I'm like, 'Baby, there's nowhere for me to go', and he says, 'Momma, I'm about to pee in my pants!'" adding that he "was peeing before his pants were even all the way down."
Because of her pregnancy and being just weeks away from giving birth, Johns couldn't carry her son to the restroom either so she did what she felt was the next best thing: she covered him up as he relieved himself in the parking lot.
But as luck would have it, her little misdemeanor caught the attention of a nearby Richmond County deputy. She said she tried to argue that such accidents happen. "What if I would have run in the bathroom and someone had been in there?" Johns said. "What was I going to let him do? Pee on the floor of the gas station?"
However, the deputy was having none of it and told her she should have taken her son to the nearby bathroom. He then decided to cite her with a disorderly conduct charge, with her ticket reading, "She allowed her male child to urinate in the parking lot. I observed the male’s genitals and the urination. Public restrooms are offered at the location."
In a Facebook post detailing the incident, she wrote, "It isn't like I had him in the wide open for the entire world to see. Yes, I should have taken him to the bathroom. Any other day I would have but this day I didn't have a chance to run inside."
The citation means Johns faces up to 60 days in jail as well as a fine of up to $5,000, though she says she's not going to take all of this lying down. She revealed she will be heading to court on April 30, a few days before she is due, to contest her charges. "I could extend it, but I would rather deal with it when I’m pregnant. Not when I have a newborn," she said.