Shine OnMom claims security guard snatched away baby she was breastfeeding
A nasty case of “she said, they said” has broken out in England after a nursing mother claimed a clothing store security guard snatched her child out of her arms to make her stop breastfeeding.
Caroline Starmer shared a post on July 13 in which she said she was at a Primark store in Leicester when she tried to breastfeed her 9 1/2-month old daughter. Starmer said within five minutes, a security guard told her to vacate the premises. When she refused, she said, the security guard physically took her baby.
“I stood my ground and stated my rights, that I can legally feed where I want.. Just for the security officer to physically remove my daughter from my breast and walk down the store with her, saying if I wanted my daughter, then I was to come and get her.”
Starmer said she retrieved her daughter and proceeded immediately to a local police station to register a complaint.
The post drew immediate ourtrage and condemnation on the Facebook page of Free to Feed, a U.K. group that campaigns against the discrimination of breastfeeding mothers. The post was shared over 12,000 times, and ignited a wave of social fury, with commenters suggesting everything from staging a feed-in protest at the store, to reporting the incident to the licensing agency to ensure the guard never works in security again.
The problem is, according to Primark, the incident never happened. On Tuesday, the company issued a press release that said it found no evidence to back up Starmer’s claims.
The CCTV footage, reviewed by store management, shows the customer in the Leicester store quite clearly during the time in question. We can see no evidence that she was approached by anyone during this period.
We have spoken to the security guards on duty. They categorically deny behaving in the way alleged. Furthermore the individuals do not fit the description given by the customer.We have therefore concluded that the customer allegation is not supported by the available evidence to date.
The company would obviously be happy to work with any police investigation into this incident, should this be needed.We have tried to contact the customer to reassure her about Primark’s practice on breastfeeding.
Starmer said the guard ripped the baby away with such force, it caused her “excruciating pain.”
"I was completely shocked, one minute I was feeding Paige in a discreet area of the store and suddenly I was being challenged by a security guard and he was walking off with my baby.
"He said to me 'you can't do that here, you will have to vacate the premises.'
"When I tried to explain my daughter needed feeding and it was my right to breastfeed wherever I wanted he just ripped Paige off my breast."
Leicester Police are investigating the incident.
According to the BBC, U.K. law dictates that it is unlawful for a business to discriminate against a woman because she is breastfeeding a child.
