Pregnant mum fined over toddler's toilet training mishap

Is this "disorderly conduct" or just a child still learning?

A pregnant mum found herself in some unexpected legal trouble after a toilet training accident with her three-year-old son, Cohen. 

The mum, Brooke Johns, received a fine for "disorderly conduct" after her son's urgent need to pee in public.

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Image: WRDW

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"I've got to pee!"

While driving, the toddler urgently informed his mum he needed to go to the toilet.

"He's like, 'Mum, I've got to pee. I've got to pee!'" Brooke recounted to WRDW.

While she was trying to find a suitable place to stop, Cohen kept pleading from the backseat: "No! I've GOT to pee! I've got to REALLY pee."

The mum had barely pulled into the petrol station car park before she realised he wasn't going to make it. She couldn't lift him up and take him inside as her doctor advised her not to lift heavy things.

So, Brooke said she tried to cover her son up as much as she could as he relieved himself outside of the petrol station.

"He was peeing before his pants were even all the way down, so obviously he had to go," Brooke told the publication.

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"Accidents happen"

Unfortunately for Brooke, a police officer watched this unfolding and issued her a fine for "disorderly conduct."

The ticket read: "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."

Brooke told WRDW, "Accidents happen. And he was like, 'Take him in the bathroom.' What if I would have ran in the bathroom and someone had been in there? What was I going to let him do? Pee on the floor of the petrol station?"

Brooke appeared in court just a few days before she was due because she "would rather deal with it when I'm pregnant, not when I have a newborn."

And in a fortunate turn of events, the charges against her were dismissed at her hearing.

"It took a huge toll on me. I'm glad it's over with ... I can breathe, I can breathe," she shared.

On social media, people weighed in on the debacle.

"The officer needs to take out some children for a few days - there is always an emergency need to go... let him try to get the child to the bathroom without being peed on," said one.

"Could the officer not have used his common sense?" asked someone else.

And another concluded: "Mama, you did absolutely nothing wrong. 99% of parents/grandparents have done this. Give that sweet little boy a high five for letting you know he had to pee!"

Originally published as Pregnant mum fined over toddler's toilet training mishap