Riverhead police chief: cop in breastfeeding flap ‘did the right thing’

Riverhead police brass have concluded their investigation into a Westhampton woman’s complaint that a patrol officer interfered with her breastfeeding a newborn baby earlier this month and have determined he did nothing wrong, Chief David Hegermiller said today.

“I’m fully supporting my police officer. He did the right thing,” Hegermiller said.

When Police Officer Patrick Loszewski responded to a report of a domestic incident in Wading River on April 14, he found the complainant, Jessica Andrea Zeledon-Mussio, in a parked car outside breastfeeding an infant.

Loszewski asked Zeledon-Mussio to cover her breast, the chief said. He was uncomfortable and concerned that since he needed to interview her, he could be accused of staring at her breast, according to Hegermiller.

“He didn’t tell her to stop. He asked her to cover up,” Hegermiller said.

“State law allows a woman to expose her breast, including her nipple,” the chief acknowledged. “But I think it’s common courtesy. When you’re being interviewed by the police department, please give them your undivided attention.”

Zeledon-Mussio contends the officer was “very adamant” about the way he asked her to cover up.

“He said ‘Cover that up,’ and he said it three times,” she said. Loszewski was discourteous, she said.

“I wear a nursing top. I wasn’t sitting there with my shirt open,” Zeledon-Mussio said.

She said she’d gone to pick up her daughter that evening and had gotten into a dispute with the child’s father, so she called police — something she said she was instructed by her attorney to do “to make sure there’s a paper trail.” Zeledon-Mussio said she has been in an ongoing custody and visitation dispute with the child’s father.

“I meant to go pick up my child and come right back. It should have taken 30 minutes. I timed it around my daughter’s nap and feeding,” she said. “I find myself feeding her about every hour. I didn’t even have a diaper bag with me,” she said. As she waited for police, her infant awakened and grew fussy, so she started to nurse her.

The officer’s treatment frightened her as well as her 12-year-old son, who was in the back seat of the car. “He was afraid I was going to be arrested.”

She tried to reach the chief numerous times by phone after the incident, she said. Unable to reach him, she contacted the Southampton Press, which reported the story last Wednesday. She told the Press she intended to file a written complaint with the Riverhead Police Department. She has not done so yet, Zeledon-Mussio said. She continued to try to reach the chief, who called her back earlier this week, she said.

“When I finally got him on the phone, there was no sense of ‘I’m sorry. This won’t happen again.’ Nothing,” Zeledon-Mussio said. The chief’s response only angered her even more.

“If he had apologized and said the department was going to do some sensitivity training,” she said, “that would be the end of it. Just a simple apology. But the arrogance of the situation is what’s really got me lit.”

Zeledon-Mussio said she really had no intention of taking legal action until she saw the department’s response to her complaint. Learning today that the chief said the officer “did the right thing” only confirmed her decision to find a lawyer.

“People in this country have to stop intimidating women and stop treating breastfeeding like its a heinous act,” she said.

Zeledon-Mussio said since the Press broke the story and Channel 12 News picked up on it, she has been “attacked and belittled” by people commenting on the media outlets’ websites. “I’ve been called all kinds of names, even a pedophile,” she said. “It’s very disturbing the way people think of breastfeeding and the things they’re willing to say.” She likened it to people blaming a rape victim for the crime against her because of the way she dressed.

“I did nothing wrong,” Zeledon-Mussio said.

She’s now on a mission to raise awareness, she said. She is working to stage a “nurse-in” with other moms outside Riverhead police headquarters to drive home the message that breastfeeding is legal.

Hegermiller said he supports breastfeeding. “I’ve got nothing against breastfeeding,” Hegermiller said. “My wife breastfed our five children. And she breastfed in public. I have no problem with that at all,” the chief said.

The police officer in question was hired by the department in December 2012. “He’s the nicest guy in the world,” Hegermiller said, adding “I can’t imagine him ever being rude to anyone.”