Mom Fined After Two-Year-Old Pees on Sidewalk

We aren't born potty trained. That's certainly something any parent will be quick to tell you.

So when Caroline Robboy was shopping with her two-year-old son Nathaniel in downtown Philadelphia and he said he needed to pee, she realized she might have problem. Especially since the store they were in wouldn't allow him to use their bathroom.

So Robboy took her boy, who is in the midst of being potty trained, out of the store and onto the sidewalk in hopes of finding another bathroom. However Nathaniel had yet to develop the self-discipline and muscle control that older kids have, and he relieved himself on a nearby lamppost.

No big deal, right? As Robboy pointed out, dogs do it all the time. But the police officer who witnessed the urination wasn't buying that excuse. Nor did he care when Robboy told him she was trying to direct Nathaniel to a grassy spot before he took matters into his own hand.

Robboy was hit with a $50 fine for Nathaniel's "crime." To make matters worse, the officer lectured her on parenting and said that he wrote the boy up for his own protection in case "there was a pervert watching."

According to spokesman for the Philadelphia Police Department, officers are allowed to use their discretion in cases like this. Did the cop owe Robboy -- who says she plans on fighting the fine -- a bit of leniency here?