Posted on 06/19/2003 7:36:03 PM PDT by mhking
Edited on 06/23/2003 2:48:15 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
PORTAGE COUNTY -- A mother traveling from Detroit to Pittsburgh got into trouble in Portage County while trying to drive and breastfeed her baby at the same time.
Twenty-nine-year-old Catherine Donkers had fed the baby before she left Detroit but said her seven-month-old daughter was hungry again.
"I knew I was doing nothing wrong when I was breastfeeding her," Donkers said.
Donkers doesn't consider her actions excessively dangerous.
"I think there are lots of things we do when we put ourselves at risk, just by the very fact that I'm in a car and there's lots of car accidents every single day," she said. "I think it would be reasonable to say even that's a danger."
A truck driver apparently saw it as a danger and called the highway patrol. But Donkers wouldn't pull over for police until she got to a tollbooth.
"I've directed her to, that when she doesn't feel safe, she goes to a public place," said her husband, Brad Barnhill.
At the tollbooth, Donkers didn't give the trooper a driver's license. She instead pulled out an affidavit as identification and got cited for not having a license.
The couple also claims she did nothing wrong, saying Michigan law has an exemption to its child restraint law for nursing mothers.
They claim that since the turnpike is an interstate, drivers can follow the laws of their home state. But the highway patrol says that as long as the stop occurred in Ohio, they have to abide by Ohio laws.
The couple has done extensive research on the law and believes in a strict adherence to them. Donkers is facing child endangering and child seat violations among other charges. Her and her husband say they plan to fight all charges and will file a counter suit.
Ridiculous!
The "sovereign citizen" movement is a loosely organized collection of groups and individuals who have adopted a right-wing anarchist ideology originating in the theories of a group called the Posse Comitatus in the 1970s. Its adherents believe that virtually all existing government in the United States is illegitimate and they seek to "restore" an idealized, minimalist government that never actually existed. To this end, sovereign citizens wage war against the government and other forms of authority using "paper terrorism" harassment and intimidation tactics, and occasionally resorting to violence.
Beg to differ, it looks to me like a Chrysler Sebring Convertable; very tight quarters, I might add.
It's almost perfect--there's no full moon, though. It just seems like it.
At that point, no matter what, you will have to make an evasive manuever to avoid crashing and that means, letting go of the baby...who will undoubtedly be thrown about the vehicle as you fishtail for control.
I cannot believe people are trying to justify this woman's blatant stupidity!
Wait that's not enough ... the child might wave his/her arms or grimace or otherwise create a visual distraction to the driver.
We need an opaque, soundproof enclosure for children in cars.
Wait! That's still not enough. The child might dirty his diaper or throw up, or something that creates a bad smell that distracts the driver.
We need an airtight, opaque, soundprooof box for the child in the car.
Face it, otherwise a child in the car is just unsafe.
FWIW (not much), I'm with you -- he would have to be a pretty well-researched liar!
Looks like there is going to shortly come a time when some camo clad, trailer trash militia freak is going to be spending sme time behind bars.
It would seem to be Mennonite/Anabaptist or some variant, with his quoting of the Dordrecht Confession.
No, they were uninformed.
Now we're not.
Driving is most assuredly not instinctive.
And at 70 MPH, it doesn't matter if you try to protect your baby; that kid's going to be an unguided missile until it his the steering wheel. A 21-pound baby at 70 MPH has a kinetic energy of 2,156 foot-pounds. That energy gets expended independently of the vehicle's kinetic energy in a collision, unless the kid's hard-mounted in place.
The Incredible Hulk couldn't hold the kid securely, using his arms alone, in that kind of situation.
How terrible. Let us rejoin Britian, today! God Save the Queen!
On that same note, you cannot compare today's traffic, drivers and vehicles with those either.
I guess it's safe to say that you, among others, have never seen pictures of children who were smashed to bits between the dashboard and the body of the person holding them. Once you seen that image, you wouldn't think like you do.
I'm going home to hug my kids. And I'll be praying for all babies, both in utero and out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.