A Belgian diplomat claims that his family was given the boot
from an upscale golf club in White Plains because his wife was breastfeeding at
the table during lunch.
According to Tom Neijens, 36, the members of his family
were made to feel like “terrorists” during the incident.
Neijens and his wife, Roseline Remans, 34, stopped by the
Metropolis Country Club and requested to have lunch even though they were not
club members.
They were given permission to dine by staff members and went to a
table on the back terrace. Once they were seated, Remans discreetly began to
feed her daughter, Luka.
A female manager quickly put a stop to the feeding.
“She said, ‘Please leave immediately, you are disturbing the
members,’” Neijens said. Remans was told to finish in the restroom.
Neijens, the first secretary of the Belgium Mission to the
UN, was not appreciative of the request.
“You don’t ask a person to have lunch in the restroom — why
would you ask a baby to have lunch there?” he said.
Then for some reason, the Greenburgh Police Department
arrived.
According to Neijens, Detective Scott Harding yelled, “Close
the doors!” and two other diners were told to leave the terrace.
“He was walking as if he was acting in a Western movie,”
Neijens said. “He had one hand on his gun, one hand on his Taser.” Officers
told the couple that they were trespassing and that many people were suspicious
of them because of their black backpack.
When Neijens revealed his state department-issued ID,
Harding had an abrupt change of heart, New York Daily News reported.
“You have to understand, this club has had terrorism threats
in the past,” he said.
Neijens followed up with an email demanding an apology
“I am deeply worried about your staff if they cannot
distinguish between a European couple looking for a quiet place to breast-feed
a baby and suicide terrorists carrying a backpack,” Neijens wrote.
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