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A mother charged with child endangerment after breastfeeding her daughter while driving on a motorway claims a prosecutor is harassing her by piling on more charges.
Catherine Donkers, 29, who lives near Pittsburgh, has been charged with failing to comply with a lawful order, obstructing official business, driving while under suspension, improper child restraint and child endangerment.
Donkers has said she understood there was a risk in breastfeeding while driving on the Ohio motorway, but argued using a mobile phone behind the wheel was riskier.
In a complaint sent to the prosecutor by her husband, Brad Barnhill, she claims the child endangerment and failure to comply charges were added by an assistant prosecutor to intimidate her.
The other charges were filed by state troopers who stopped Donkers on the motorway.
The failure to comply charge alleges she drove for three miles before stopping for troopers at a toll plaza south-east of Cleveland. Her husband also says he wants to be tried instead, citing religious beliefs.
Mr Barnhill, 46, is a minister in the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty - an organisation founded by Christopher Hansen of Henderson, Nevada, in the late 1990s.
He said: "I'm responsible for what she does, and no one can punish her except me."
Prosecutor Victor V Vigluicci said: "That's a fantasy." He said he has the authority to decide which complaints coming to his office are pursued.
Catherine Donkers, 29, who lives near Pittsburgh, has been charged with failing to comply with a lawful order, obstructing official business, driving while under suspension, improper child restraint and child endangerment.
Donkers has said she understood there was a risk in breastfeeding while driving on the Ohio motorway, but argued using a mobile phone behind the wheel was riskier.
In a complaint sent to the prosecutor by her husband, Brad Barnhill, she claims the child endangerment and failure to comply charges were added by an assistant prosecutor to intimidate her.
The other charges were filed by state troopers who stopped Donkers on the motorway.
The failure to comply charge alleges she drove for three miles before stopping for troopers at a toll plaza south-east of Cleveland. Her husband also says he wants to be tried instead, citing religious beliefs.
Mr Barnhill, 46, is a minister in the First Christian Fellowship for Eternal Sovereignty - an organisation founded by Christopher Hansen of Henderson, Nevada, in the late 1990s.
He said: "I'm responsible for what she does, and no one can punish her except me."
Prosecutor Victor V Vigluicci said: "That's a fantasy." He said he has the authority to decide which complaints coming to his office are pursued.
