Pregnant mother cited after toddler pees in public

AUGUSTA, Ga. (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A pregnant mother is facing disorderly conduct charges in Georgia for allowing her 3-year-old son to do his duty in the parking lot of a gas station.

On Wednesday in Augusta, Brooke Johns' toddler son alerted her he needed to use the bathroom. The two barely pulled over to a gas station before she realized he was going to make it to a toilet inside.

Since Brooke was unable to carry the boy due to being just weeks from giving birth, she says she did what she thought was the next best thing: letting him pee outside in the parking lot while covering him.

That wasn't enough to satisfy a Richmond County deputy who spotted the incident.

"I said 'Accidents happen." And he was like - take him in the bathroom," Johns said. "What if I would have ran in the bathroom and someone had been in there? What I was going to let him do? Pee on the floor of the gas station?"

The deputy cited Johns for disorderly conduct.

Now she has a date in court just days before she's due with her next child.

The penalty is up to a thousand dollars in fines and 60 days in jail, but a judge could decide to drop the case entirely.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.