A Kentucky police officer ticketed a homeless pregnant woman he found sitting on the street after she told him she was in labor and waiting for an ambulance.
Lt. Caleb Stewart, a Louisville Metro Police Department officer, claimed he ‘did not believe’ the woman for a second after she can be heard on body-camera footage claiming she was ‘leaking’ and ‘in labor.’
‘I’m waiting for an ambulance, I might be going into labor,’ the unidentified woman told the LMPD officer, according to body-camera footage. ‘Is that okay?’ she asked.
The woman appeared to be grabbing items from the encampment set-up underneath the overpass when Stewart got out of his car and approached her.
She told him she did not have a phone, but her husband had just left to go find one and make a call.
‘I’m leaking out. I’m leaking water, all of my amniotic fluid I’m leaking out,’ she told Stewart who called for emergency medical services.
The woman then began to walk away when Stewart asked her how far along she was but didn’t answer and continued trying to get away from the officer.
He shouted several times at her before telling her she was being detained.
A Kentucky police officer ticketed a homeless pregnant woman for living on the streets after she told him she was in labor and waiting for an ambulance
‘I’m waiting for an ambulance, I might be going into labor,’ the unidentified woman told the LMPD officer, according to body-camera footage. The woman appeared to be grabbing items from the set-up underneath the overpass when Stewart got out of his car and approached her
‘You’re being detained because you’re unlawfully camping,’ he said before asking once more when her baby was due.
She told him she was due on October 29 and was going to find her husband.
‘I gotta go to the hospital,’ she can be heard saying on the September 27 body-camera footage.
‘What the f*** am I doing wrong? I’m walking out to the street,’ she says before Stewart reminds her help is on the way, however, she continued to berate him on what she was ‘doing wrong.’
Footage shows the woman continue to head head toward the street as Stewart gets back into his vehicle and city workers begin to clear away the encampment.
Moments later, Stewart can be heard claiming he does not believe ‘for one second’ that the homeless lady is actually in labor.
‘I don’t believe for one second that this lady’s gone into labor, but I called EMS, I asked for them code three just in case I’m wrong,’ body-camera footage reveals.
Stewart claims the woman has ‘pulled this kind of stuff before,’ and that as soon as she’s ‘observed violating some kind of a law that she’ll make up some outlandish story about what’s going on.’
He then exits the vehicle and writes the citation before handing it to the woman, who is now sitting on the ground.
‘I’m issuing you a citation for unlawful camping, OK?’ Stewart tells her.
‘You can’t camp out or sleep on sidewalks, under underpasses or bridges. And we’ve warned you about this before, OK? You’ve got a court date on November 8 at 9 am at the courthouse at 600 West Jefferson,’ he explains.
Crumpling up the citation and shoving it in her pocket, the woman gathered what remained of her belongings before leaving in the ambulance.
The woman, who is believed to be in her thirties, then began to walk away when Stewart asked her how far along she was. Yet, she failed to answer and continued on walking away from the officer, escalating the situation
After the woman is taken away in the ambulance, Stewart is back in his vehicle and again begins describing the reason for the citation. ‘She’s on the mattress, she’s got a blanket, pillow, underneath the interstate bridge, so clearly a violation,’ he said
‘You’re all horrible people,’ she said as she gathered her things.
‘I’m glad y’all got this job, to f*** with the homeless and not help society. Y’all got this job to f*** with the homeless, people that don’t even really do anything.’
After the woman is taken away in the care of Louisville EMS, Stewart is back in his vehicle and again begins describing the reason for the citation.
‘She’s on the mattress, she’s got a blanket, pillow, underneath the interstate bridge, so clearly a violation,’ he said.
He added that the woman, who is believed to be in her thirties, was ‘utilizing camping paraphernalia’ and didn’t have a ‘designated camping or sleeping area … didn’t have authority to be doing this here and she’s been warned before. She’s probably been warned multiple times, I know she’s officially been warned at least once,’ the footage reveals.
The LMPD has since issued a statement claiming that its officers have offered her resources for shelter twice before the late September encounter, all of which she declined.
Police said without officer Stewart’s intervention, ‘it is possible the baby would have been born without medical care.’
‘We support our officers in using discretion and the information available to them at the time in making decisions,’ the statement released on Thursday said.
‘We also understand everyone may not agree with those decisions, but we are committed to being transparent in communicating and explaining processes and policy to the community.’
According to her attorney, Ryan Dischinger, the woman gave birth to a baby boy later that day.
‘The reality for her, and for anyone who’s homeless in Kentucky, is that they’re constantly and unavoidably breaking this law. The criminalization of poverty inevitably begets ugly and offensive enforcement actions,’ Dischinger said in a statement.
The distressing incident comes as Kentucky issued the Safe Kentucky Act, legislation aimed at making street camping illegal. Pictured: Homeless encampments in Louisville, Kentucky
The midwestern state is one of at least three US states to enforce such legislation.
‘What she needed was help and compassion and instead she was met with state violence. Without assistance from police or the courts, she and her child are sheltered and healthy.’
The distressing incident comes as Kentucky issued the Safe Kentucky Act, legislation aimed at making street camping illegal. The midwestern state is one of at least three US states to enforce such legislation.
The act, passed earlier this year, also makes repeat camping in public areas, such as streets or beneath overpasses, a misdemeanor.
The Thursday statement added that the LMPD and its officers – along with members of The Safe and Healthy Streets Initiative, Solid Waste Management and Homeless Services Division – responded in the area that day to clean the encampment, offer services to those living there, and cite anyone committing violations.
According to the statement, they do this several times per week.
The woman is scheduled for a late January hearing on the citation, according to court documents.
