Mother shocked by $50 fine after 4-year-old son has bathroom emergency in Battery Park
LOWER MANHATTAN, Manhattan (WABC) -- A mother is hoping for change, and a little sympathy, after she was fined for doing what most parents would when their young child has to use a bathroom in public, but there's seemingly nowhere to turn.
That's the dilemma that Michiko Sasaki was faced with.
She often takes her son Kobe to a field near their apartment in Washington Heights, but last Saturday, they headed to Battery Park for a change of scenery.
"We always like to discover new play spaces and playgrounds," Sasaki said.
It was fun, until it wasn't.
"He had an emergency that day, he said I just really need to use the bathroom right now, so I said 'come on, let's go, the bathroom is right there,'" Sasaki said.
They headed the to the park's building adjacent to the playground only to find two doors that showed there were no bathrooms.
Her 4-year-old couldn't hold it any longer, so he did what most kids would do and took a "nature pee" by some weeds.
"Soon enough, five to six officers just swarmed us, dominating us and said 'we're going to give you a ticket for this, it's absolutely against the law, you cannot do that,'" Sasaki said.
They fined her $50, which was shocking to her and other parents Eyewitness News reporter Lauren Glassberg spoke to.
"Emergencies happen all the time and they don't know how to hold it very long, so if he needs to go quick we need to get there as fast as possible, so if it's not there -- but there is a tree, he's going to do that," parent Colleen Chapman said. "No mom should have to pay for that one."
"We never know when the boys or girls have to go, it can happen anytime," parent Bruno Angelloz said. "I don't think that's fair."
Michiko says officers told her she should have found a bathroom and there are restrooms about 40 steps away in the building, but they're not obvious. They don't show up on any maps and there were no signs guiding people over there.
But two signs are up now, likely thanks in part to Sasaki alerting Battery Park officials and council members.
She hopes those signs help other families who find themselves in a similar predicament.
"It shouldn't have to be this way... I shouldn't have to ask for a basic need and to have to ask for a sign," she said.
The Parks Department stands by the fine, and a released a statement on Friday.
"We want every New Yorker to be able to enjoy our parks and feel comfortable in them, which is why NYC Parks maintains more than 1,600 public restrooms across the five boroughs for the benefit of the public and the health of our city. Public urination in parks is prohibited, and we ask everyone to use the designated facilities provided," the Parks Department said in a statement.
Sasaki hopes to fight the fine.
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